


Make Them Gold (Neville Longbottom x OC)

by nevillesIongbottom



Series: Rise of a Sun \ Fall of a Star [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Neville Longbottom, Background Relationships, Bisexual Female Character, Bisexuality, Black Family (Harry Potter) - Freeform, Blood Magic, Death Eaters, F/F, F/M, Family Drama, Family Secrets, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Godfather Sirius Black, Hurt/Comfort, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Metamorphmagus, Minor Bellatrix Black Lestrange/Tom Riddle | Voldemort, Muggle Culture, Mutual Pining, Neville Longbottom is a Good Friend, Not Canon Compliant, Pansexual Neville Longbottom, Parent Bellatrix Black Lestrange, Parent Remus Lupin, Past Child Abuse, Pining, Plot Twists, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Prophecy, Sane Bellatrix Black Lestrange, Scottish Character, Seers, Squibs, The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, Voldemort has multiple children and they're all dead, Voldemort is Kronos, Voldemort's child
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-29
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2019-05-02 08:00:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 126,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14540280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nevillesIongbottom/pseuds/nevillesIongbottom
Summary: Aurelia Black, being the self-disowned daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, likes to think she's got a very clear idea of who she is and who she wants to be; she's got a heart of gold but most refuse to see it because of her family. But, she knows she's good and she'll do anything to prove she's more gold than black.Neville Longbottom is the polar opposite of her. He's barely got an idea of who he is, let alone who he wants to be. All his life he has been told who his parents had been and how he is nothing like them. He has big shoes to fill and he's certain he won't be able to fill them.No matter what it takes, they will become the golden heroes they've only heard about in stories no matter what fate, crazy 'aunts' who like referring to Shakespeare, a Vegetarian Kronos, an old man who wants to use them like chess pieces, and a wonky dead seer have to say about it.





	1. PART ONE: Eye of the Hurricane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [07\26\2018; author's note:]: Hello there and welcome to the first book (not chronologically speaking) in my Harry Potter AU that I've been working on for three years, so if you see anything that looks different from the books it's because (fuck canon) there's a good reason for it! I started this book in March of 2016, the 22nd to be exact (the only reason I remember this is because it's the day mcr died a few years prior) and it's come along way since then, it's been through a lot of changes, and I'm proud to say I'm very happy with the direction it's going since I decided to rewrite it. I hope you enjoy the story, I've worked so very hard on it! Thanks for reading!!

█▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ⋆ ☆ ⋆ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█  
**MAKE THEM GOLD** ** _!_**  
Extended Summary + Act One  
❛part of the **_rise of a sun\fall of a star_** series❜  
ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢs ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ  
█▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ⋆ ☆ ⋆ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄█

 

**AURELIA BLACK LIKES TO THINK SHE** ' **S GOT** a clear idea of who she is and who she wants to be despite the vivid memories in her head telling her otherwise ** _._** She's the self-disowned daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy ** _,_** she's got a heart of gold though most refuse to see it because of her dark name ** _._** But ** _,_** she _knows_ she's good ** _,_** she _must_ be good and she'll do anything to prove she's more gold than black ** _._**

        Neville Longbottom is the polar opposite of Aurelia Black ** _._** He's barely got an idea of who he is ** _,_** let alone who he wants to be ** _._** All his life he's heard stories of how great his parents once were ** _,_** for years he's been pressured to be exactly like them ** _._** It leaves him feeling smother and confused ** _,_** he wonders if he'll ever be like the golden heroes they were when he's not sure _who_ he's supposed to be ** _._**

        Maybe it's the fact they're so different that drew them together ** _,_** or maybe it's because they're quite alike — two confused souls ** _,_** hindered by their families' legacies just trying to prove they're so much more ** _._** Or maybe they're drawn to each other because of reasons shrouded in a mystery they have yet to uncover **.**

        Whatever the reason that brought them together is ** _,_** they don't pay mind to it because they're together and that's all that matters ** _._** Together ** _,_** they make a pretty good team and together they know what they want ** _._**

        They want to prove themselves — _show those fuckers they shouldn't be underestimated_ ** _._** They're not a **_'_** cowardly boy ** _'_** born from unsung ** _,_** golden heroes or an **_'_** untrustworthy girl ** _'_** born to cruel monsters destined to be just as heartless and destructive as them ** _._** No ** _,_** they are so much than that and they'll prove it no matter what it takes ** _._** They'll turn themselves into the golden heroes they had only heard about in stories ** _._** They'll do it ** _,_** they swear on it — even if fate seems to be against them ** _._**

        Aurelia Black and Neville Longbottom will be gold no matter what fate ** _,_** crazy **_'_** aunts ** _'_** who like referring to Shakespeare ** _,_** a Vegetarian Kronos ** _,_** an old man who wants to use them like chess pieces ** _,_** and a wonky dead seer have to say about it ** _._**

        They will be gold and they will be good ** _._**

🌟        🌟        🌟

**AURELIA BLACK JUST WANTS ONE PEACEFUL YEAR** at Hogwarts ** _._** One year where she doesn't accidentally hit Lord Voldemort in the face with her history textbook ** _,_** or get petrified by a basilisk ** _,_** or find out that her favourite professor is a bloody werewolf ** _._**

        She just wants a simple year where she can figure out if she likes Neville Longbottom more than Hermione Granger or vice versa ** _._** Aurelia doesn't think she's asking for too much ** _._**

        As her third year at Hogwarts comes to an end ** _,_** she comes to the disappointing realisation that she will never get a peaceful year ** _._** And when Mae lets it slip that the Triwizard Tournament is coming back and it's coming to Hogwarts ** _,_** Aurelia knows something terrible is doomed to happen especially with Harry Potter in attendance ** _._**

        Things are changing ** _,_** something wicked is coming her way ** _,_** Aurelia can feel it in her bones ** _._**

        A storm is brewing ** _,_** tensions are building ** _,_** and standing at the eye of it all is Aurelia ** _._**

 

█▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ⋆ ☆ ⋆ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█  
**STARRING** ** _!_**  
█▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ⋆ ☆ ⋆ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄█

 

 

❝ _Mae always tells me to take the bests bits of myself_  
_and make them gold_ ** _!_** _That's it_ ** _!_** _We've got to take the best_  
_parts of ourselves and make them gold_ ** _,_** _Neville_ ** _!_** ❞  
NATALIA DYER  
❨ **_AURELIA BLACK_** ❩

 

 🌟        🌟        🌟

 

❝ _We're in this together_ ** _,_** _Aurelia Alice_  
_Black_ ** _,_** _do you understand me_ ** _?!_** _We do this_  
_together_ ** _,_** _I'm not letting you face this on your own_ ** _!_** ❞  
MATTHEW LEWIS  
❨ **_NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM_** ❩

 

 🌟        🌟        🌟

 

❝ _Tell me, Dumbledore why ye like havin' children_  
_with prophecies loomin' over their head fight yer battles_ ** _?_** ❞  
RUTH CONNELL  
❨ **_MAEVE 'MAE' MACLEOD_** ❩

 

 🌟        🌟        🌟

 

❝ _You and Longbottom are like Romeo and Juliet_ ** _,_** _if_  
_I'm being honest it's quite disgusting_ ** _,_** _really_ ** _._** ❞  
KATIE MCGRATH  
❨ **_BELLATRIX LESTRANGE_** ❩

 

🌟        🌟        🌟

 

 

❝ _I know things about Voldemort that would_  
_give Dumbeldore a heart attack — Dumbledore_ ** _!_** ❞  
PHILLIPA SOO  
❨ **_ABIGALE MONTGOMERY_** ❩

 

━━ _**INCLUDING THE[EXTENDED CAST](https://www.wattpad.com/641480664-make-them-gold-%E2%9E%9D-neville-longbottom-%F0%9F%8C%9F-extended) LIST**_  
**_& &&_**  
**_SPECIAL ACT ONE GUEST APPEARANCES BY_**

 

 

❝ _Zey are wrong, Aurelia_ ** _._** _You are sweet and kind_ ** _._** ❞  
GABRIELLA WILDE  
❨ **FLEUR DELACOUR** ❩

  
                                           
**_&_**

 

❝ _ou schouldn't have trusted me zo eazily, girl_ ** _,_** _you're as veak as your mother_ ** _!_** ❞  
NINA DOBREV  
❨ **NOELLE EDWYN-GODWIN** ❩

 

█▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ⋆ ☆ ⋆ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀█  
**SOUNDTRACK** ** _!_**  
█▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄ ⋆ ☆ ⋆ ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄█

 

[_**❨ spotify link ❩ . . .**_ **track one** : ❛MAKE THE GOLD ❜ ━ **_Chvrches_** ❙ **track two** : ❛AURELIA❜ ━ **_Dan Kosub_** ❙ **track three** : ❛THERE IS A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT❜ ━ **_the Smiths_** ❙ **track four** : ❛WATERLOO❜ ━ **_Abba_** ❙ **track five** : ❛VILLAINS PT. i❜ ━ **_Emma Blackery_** ❙ **track six** : ❛BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY❜ ━ **_Queen_** ❙ **track seven** : ❛CLEAREST BLUE❜ ━ **_Chvrches_** ❙ **track eight** : ❛CARRY ON WAYWARD SON❜ ━ **_Kansas_** ❙ **track nine** : ❛THE LAST OF THE REAL ONES❜ ━ **_Fall Out Boy_** ❙ **track ten** : ❛DON'T YOU **_(_** FORGET ABOUT ME ** _)_** ❜ ━ **_Simple Minds_** ❙ **track eleven** : ❛GRAFFITI❜ ━ **_Chvrches_** ❙ **track twelve** : ❛CLAIRVOYANT❜ ━ **_the Story So Far_** ❙ **track thirteen** : ❛HAND IN GLOVE❜ ━ **_the Smiths_** ❙ **track fourteen** : ❛WONDERWALL❜ ━ **_Oasis_** ❙ **track fifteen** : ❛BBBLUE❜ ━ **_Oliver the Kidd_** ❙ **track sixteen** : ❛OH NO❜ ━ **_MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS_** ❙ **track seventeen** : ❛MONSTER❜ ━ **_Paramore_** ❙ **track eighteen** : ❛HOW SOON IS NOW❜ ━ **_the Smiths_** ❙ **track twenty** : ❛ANIMAL❜ ━ **_Neon Trees_** ❙ **track twenty-one** : ❛EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD❜ ━ **_Tears for Fears_** ❙ **track twenty-two** : ❛VILLAINS PT. ii❜ ━ **_Emma Blackery_** ❙ **track twenty-three** : ❛END OF AN ERA❜ ━ **_Marianas Trench . . ._** ❨ _more songs on spotify_ ❩](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5b3ARbFPYZZ5C4Bi8glZ8b)

🌟        🌟        🌟

_**& && the Soundtrack of Act One!** _

🌟 𝑨𝑪𝑻 𝒊 ━━ 𝑬𝒀𝑬 𝑶𝑭 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑯𝑼𝑹𝑹𝑰𝑪𝑨𝑵𝑬 🌟

❝ _This is real fine_ ** _!_** _Everythin' is fine and nothing is wrong in this world_ ** _!_** ❞

❝ _Then why are you having an emotional breakdown_ ** _?_** ❞

[**_❨ spotify link! ❩_ . . . track one** : ❛HURRICANE❜ ━ **_Hamilton_** ❙ **track two** : ❛I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY (WHO LOVES ME)❜ ━ **_Whitney Houston_** ❙ **track three** : ❛TAKE ME OUT❜ ━ **_Emma Blackery_** ❙ **track four** : ❛RHYTM OF YOUR HEART❜ ━ **_Marianas Trench_** ❙ **track five** : ❛LAY ALL YOUR LOVE ON ME❜ ━ **_Abba_** ❙ **track six** : ❛LET THE FLAMES BEGIN❜ ━ **_Paramore_** ❙ **track seven** : ❛EYE OF THE TIGER❜ ━ **_Survivor_** ❙ **track eight** : ❛DANCING'S NOT A CRIME❜ ━ **_Panic! at the Disco_** ❙ **track nine** : ❛COME ON EILEEN❜ ━ **_Dexy's Midnight Runners_** ❙ **track ten** : ❛TAKE ME OUT❜ ━ **_Emma Blackery_** ❙ **track eleven** : ❛HONEY ** _,_** HONEY❜ ━ **_Abba_** ❙ **track twelve** : ❛ ** _(_** FUCK A ** _)_** SILVER LINING❜ ━ **_Panic! at the Disco_** ❙ **track thirteen** : ❛DANCE DANCE❜ ━ **_Fall Out Boy_** ❙ **track fourteen** : ❛CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE❜ ━ **_Queen_**](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3eHoWpPEHSQ8WQIBavM1VZ)

 

━━ Make Them Gold Covers ** _:_**  
❨ _inspired by_ _[bIoodflood](https://www.wattpad.com/user/bIoodflood)_ ❩

━━ Make Them Gold Movie Posters ** _:_**  
❨ _created by me_ ❩

 

**_original story started_** : march 22nd, 2016  
**_rewrite started_** : july, 26th, 2018  
**_originally published_** : april 24th, 2016  
**_rewrite published_** : september, 19th, 2018  
**_finished_** : to be decided

 

❨ _SET IN AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE_ ** _!_** ❩  
❨ _GOBLET OF FIRE_ ** _—_** _DEATHLY HALLOWS_ ** _!_** ❩  
❨ _PART OF THE 'RISE OF A SUN\FALL OF A STAR' UNIVERSE_ ** _!_** ❩

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This book deals with topics such as PTSD, Depression, mentions of abuse, mentions of suicide and self-harm, and discussions of Sexuality, LGBT+ relationhips (Bisexuality, Homosexuality, GirlxGirl, BoyxBoy, etc... ʲᵘˢᵗ ᵃ ʷᵃʳⁿᶦⁿᵍ ᶠᵒʳ ʸᵒᵘ ᵘʰ ʰᵒᵐᵒᵖʰᵒᵇᵉˢ ᵒᵘᵗ ᵗʰᵉʳᵉ) and they are a big part of this book so if any of these things trigger or bother you, please be careful reading this book! 
> 
> [01\10\19; author's note]: Uhhh so I don't know who allowed me to but for some reason I got the urge to rewrite the summary for Make Them Gold and it actually turned out GOOD,,, like it slaps so I did that. The new summary fits the theme of the book and my plans so much better than the old one, the other one was a bit light-hearted and it was slightly misleading to the plot I have planned. Also while I did that I fixed a few spelling errors because apparently someone my brain ACTUALLY let me type 'Sleeping Through my Fingers' without thinking 'Uh, hey there, something not right with that!' and I only realised it yesterday! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the new and very improved summary for Make Them Gold!!!


	2. | PROLOGUE: ❝Odd One Out❞

****

**CHAPTER zero** ** _!_**  
Odd One Out; _Three Years Ago_. . .

* * *

" **DIDN'T YE GET ANY SLEEP LAST NIGHT** , wee moon?" Maeve "Mae" Macleod asks Aurelia Malfoy as she runs a brush through the young girl's thick curls. Her Scottish accent is thick and though over the years Aurelia has grown accustomed to it, in her sleepy state, it takes a few minutes for her to process what Mae has said.

Aurelia shakes her head and tries to stifle a yawn but fails to do. Mae smiles fondly at her as she starts to braid Aurelia's blue hair.

"Ye know we're off to Diagon Alley today?" Mae queries, "You've got a long day ahead o' ye, wee moon."

‟I know." Aurelia says softly, the Scottish lilt of her voice makes Mae grin.

"So, how come ye didn't sleep last night?"

Aurelia shrugs.

"Nightmares?"

Aurelia shakes her head.

"Nerves?"

She shrugs again.

"The scars?"

Aurelia shrinks in her seat, suddenly finding the floor much more interesting than the mirror.

Mae sighs softly "Wee moon, no one will see them —"

"But I can't always hide them, I'm not good at controlling it!" Aurelia exclaims, her hairs turns white which only proves her point.

Mae grabs her chin gently and turns Aurelia's head so that they are facing each other "Calm yer nerves, wee moon, I'll see if your father will allow you more lessons with Tonks."

"M'kay." Aurelia mumbles, still frowning.

Mae presses a kiss to her nose "You've got nothin' to worry about when I'm around, wee moon!"

Looking slightly less worried than before, Aurelia giggles and nods her head.

Mae smiles and lets go of her chin "Well, yer locks are all prettied up. I have to go and wake yer brother up now." she says with a shake of her head, "He's worse than your father when it comes to mornin's!"

Once the Squib has left Aurelia's room, she frowns. Looking at her face in the mirror, Aurelia has to hold back tears at the sight of the scars marring the right side of her face. The sounds of her screams and animalistic growls echo in her mind, her slender fingers graze over the smaller ones next to larger one and she struggles not break down in tears.

Aurelia squeezes her eyes and tries her best to concentrate on making her scars go away but when she opens her eyes the most she could do is make them a bit smaller.

She lets out a pitiful whine, her hair turning gold.

Her Metamorphmagus abilities are next to dismal, the most she can do is occasionally her hair the colour she wants but most of the time all it does is make her stand out like a sore thumb.

Aurelia is often referred to as the 'odd one out' by her parents' friends and as much as she hates it, they aren't wrong. It seems the only thing that makes her a Malfoy is her name, she doesn't share the same appearance as them, sometimes and though Aurelia tries she doesn't share the same beliefs as them, she doesn't act like them. Most of the time she feels like an outcast in her own home.

She sighs sadly and represses the urge to throw her mirror on the ground. Aurelia wishes she looks more like her brother, after all he is her twin brother and they should, at least, look sort of alike.

Her and Draco couldn't be anymore different. He's pale-haired, pale-skinned, freckle-less, and well-behaved. Aurelia is the exact opposite of him. The only thing the twins share in common are the fact they're spoiled brats.

Aurelia looks into the mirror again and her annoyance flares at the sight of the myriad of freckles on her face. She doesn't have much time to think about how much she loathes them as her brother comes knocking on her door.

He's got more energy than usual "Lia! Lia! It's today!" Draco screams, "We're going today! We get our wands today!"

Draco practically leaps over her bed to get to her and when he does he tackles her into a hug.

"Today!" He squeals.

Aurelia squirms in his grasp "Today!" she squeals though less enthusiastically than him.

"Aren't you excited?" He asks excitedly.

"Yes!" Aurelia replies but she doesn't sound the least bit excited.

Draco is not deterred by her cynical tone because he knows that she's excited but as usual she's letting her pessimistic thoughts get in the way.

"We're going to Hogwarts! We're going to make so many new friends!"

Aurelia snorts at this "You are, I'm not."

Draco has always been the more outgoing twin and while Aurelia isn't shy by any means, she had always been the more quiet twin. Most of the friends her brother has should've been her friends too but most of them don't like how quiet she is so they stuck with Draco. Then after the werewolf attack she became even more quiet, her parents seem to like her better that way.

She had lost most of her friends after the attack, Pansy Parkinson and Theodore Nott are the only ones that still call her a friend but even then they still play with Draco more. At least they have the decency to look her in the eyes when the come over for a playdate.

He frowns, grabbing her face and peppering kisses all over the scarred half of her face. It's something Draco has done since the attack, he likes to think that doing that will make her feel better and sometimes it does.

"You'll make lots of friends, Lia! Your scars are awesome, you fought a werewolf and that's amazing!"

Aurelia shrugs "I didn't fight a werewolf, it tried to use me as its' chew-toy."

"Dad says he saw you punch it before he could intervene." Draco says.

"I thought that might've worked." Aurelia whispers sheepishly.

"So you did fight a werewolf!" Draco says, his grey eyes wide with wonder.

Aurelia opens her mouth to argue but pauses, Draco's way too stubborn and she's way too stressed out to start a fight "Sure, I fought a werewolf."

Draco grins and places several more kisses on her scars before letting her go

"By the way, mum made chocolate chip waffles — your favourite!" He tells her then runs out of her room almost barrelling into Mae who moves out of the way just in time.

"I haven't seen the tyke that excited since yer father brought those brooms for the two o' yers."

Aurelia laughs quietly, she wishes she can be as happy as her brother.

"I've got a surprise for ye, wee moon." Mae tells Aurelia who perks up at the word 'suprise'.

"A surprise?"

"Aye, it's make-up. . . Special make-up that'll help hide yer scar. It's magic, I had mukker o' mine charm it for ye." Mae explains, revealing a jar of alabaster-coloured creme that she had hid behind her back.

Aurelia throws herself at Mae, sobbing "Thank — thank you, Mae." as she hugs the squib tightly.

"Anythin' for ye, wee moon." Mae says softly, smoothing Aurelia's hair down.

"Can you put it on me now?" Aurelia questions.

Mae smiles softly "O' Course! O' course!"

* * *

Having her scars hidden from sight makes Aurelia a thousand times more excited about the trip to Diagon Alley.

She's upset by the fact that her parents have left her in the company of Mae, they usually do this but Aurelia had thought that since no one can see her scars they might've taken her with them.

She's use to them doing this, they always take her brother with them and leave her with their Squib maid. Thanks to this, Aurelia has become rather attached to Mae despite the fact she is a Squib and should be treated as dirt.

Aurelia sighs dejectedly as her parents tug Draco away from Aurelia and down the street of the alley. Draco isn't the least bit thrilled that Aurelia won't be joining them and almost threw a fit about it but their dad had pulled him away before he could start screaming.

Mae places a comforting hand on Aurelia's shoulder.

"Ye want to get yer wand first?" She asks.

Aurelia nods her head quickly, a small smile forming on her face.

 _At least I have Mae_ , she thinks.

"Let's go get yer wand then, wee moon!" Mae says giddily, "Oooh, this is gonna be excitin'! When I took little Ellie for his wand he went through about ten wands before he found the perfect wand. It had Ollivander quite frazzled."

Ellie — or rather, Elliot is the boy Mae cares for. He's her adoptive son and Aurelia's met him twice, her parents think that Regulus is his father because they look so much alike but they can't tell for certain. It'd make sense if Elliot's his son since Maeve had been really close to him and Regulus would've definitely left his son in her care if he died.

Before they got to Ollivander's, Mae spots her younger sister and her kids so she pulls Aurelia in the opposite direction of the wand shop.

"Oi, I see Molly with her little ones, maybe ye can make some friends!" Mae tells Aurelia.

Instinctively, Aurelia's hands move to cover her face only to remember that no one can see her scar because of the make-up. She swallows thickly and allows Mae to drag her over to the family of redheads.

She knows they're the Weasleys and she has mixed feelings on them. She has been raised to hate them but she doesn't because neither Mae or her Aunt Andromeda hate them and a lot of times Aurelia finds herself siding with them instead of her parents though she doesn't mean to. She just doesn't like to be mean to people even if they're less than she is.

Aurelia tugs on Mae's shirt "Are they nice?" she wonders.

Mae looks down at Aurelia, she smiles and nods "O' course, they're nice! I wouldn't be introducin' ye to them if they weren't."

"Molls!" She calls out to the other redhead.

Aurelia can see Molly Weasley tense up but her children start grinning.

"Auntie Mae!" The little girl exclaim.

"Awright there, wee Ginerva!" Mae greets.

The twin boys share looks of shock and whisper to each other, Aurelia covers her face and wonders if her scars are showing.

Ginerva rushes forward and hugs Maeve.

"What are you doing here, Aunt Mae?" One of the twins asks.

"Where's Ellie?" The other asks.

"Elliot went to Lee's house for the day and I'm takin', Aurelia here, shopping for her school supplies." Mae replies.

The Weasley children turn their attention on Aurelia.

"Who are you?" One of the twins asks.

"She just said my name." Aurelia says without thinking.

The oldest of the kids hides a small grin by looking away, the twins share another look, the tall boy laughs from behind his mother, and Ginerva snickers.

"I like her! Her hair is cool! Friends?" Ginerva says, holding out her hand for Aurelia to shake.

Aurelia hesitates, her dad would never allow this but he's not here at the moment so she looks to Mae who nods and gently nudges Aurelia forward.

She shakes Ginerva's hand "Friends."

Ginerva grins "I'm Ginny by the way! Never call me Ginerva, only Auntie Mae can do that because she sounds funny when she says it. Do you have a nickname, your name's kind of a mouthful, I'm gonna call you, Blue!"

Aurelia blinks and nods "Okay."

She looks to Mae who laughs and pats her head "She's a talkative one, ain't she?"

Aurelia nods and Ginny blushes.

"It's okay though, I like it." Aurelia whispers.

Mae points at the children "That's Percy, that's Fred and that's George, and that tree right there is, Ronniekins!"

The tall one turns red and exclaims "My name's Ron!"

Mae grins teasingly at him then turns to Aurelia and says: "He's goin' to be startin' Hogwarts this year."

Aurelia observes Ron. They're a lot alike, she thinks, they're both tall and lanky though she's not as tall as him, she's just tall for her age, they're both covered in freckles, and they're both trying to use their mother\ mother figures as shield but are failing to do so.

Ron smiles shyly at her and she decides she likes him so she holds her hand out for him to shake "Friends?"

"Friends." He agrees, shaking her hand.

"Hey!" The one that Aurelia thinks is Fred exclaims.

"What about us?" George cries. He's got a lower voice than Fred, Aurelia notes, he's also got a mole on the right side of his neck that Fred doesn't have.

"You want to be my friends too?" Aurelia asks, shocked.

The twins nod and grin.

"We all want to be your friends, you can't escape us now!" Fred says jokingly.

Aurelia freezes, her eyes fill with tears and she presses herself into Mae. The twins' amusement turns to confusion.

Aurelia breathes heavily, suddenly feeling trapped.

 _You can't escape me now, little girl,_ the woman croons _, Greyback will be so pleased I've found you._

Aurelia's heart begins to race.

 _This can't be happening_.

 _She's dead. She's dead. She's dead_.

The woman lets out a howl of pain, struggling towards Aurelia.

"Do you have a wand?" Ginny asks but Aurelia doesn't respond, she doesn't even look at Ginny.

Aurelia grips onto Mae's shirt with all her strength, feeling the smooth material against her trembling fingertips.

 _This isn't happening_.

 _It can't be happening_.

 _Come — come here, little girl,_ the woman calls out to Aurelia, her voice's pained. Her blonde, dishevelled hair hiding most of her scarred face.

Aurelia feels a crippling fear welling up in her chest.

 _Come here, little — little girl, please,_ her bones begin to crack loudly and the woman cries out painfully, falling at Aurelia's feet —

"Do you have a wand?" Ginny asks again, tugging gently on Aurelia cloak though her mother and aunt tell her not to.

Aurelia blinks, _the woman's gone_. She's in Diagon Alley not in the forest.

Her fear starts to dissipate but the anxiety remains. She looks at the Weasleys hesitantly and they're all staring at her with concerned and confused expressions.

Ginny waves her hand in front of Aurelia's face "Hello? I said "Do you got a wand?", well do you?"

This startles Aurelia and she buries her face into Mae's shirt.

"Ginny, don't do that, leave the poor girl be!" Molly scolds.

Ginny huffs, not understanding the situation.

"No, she ain't got a wand, not yet at least. We were just headin' to Ollivander's when I spotted you lot, thought I'd come say hi." Mae says, rubbing circles on Aurelia's back.

"How nice of you, Mae." Molly says cooly.

Mae grows tense but she smiles nevertheless "It's always nice to see ye, Molls and the kids, o' course. Well, Aurelia's very excited to get her wand and I best not keep her waitin'."

They say their goodbyes and Ginny even hugs her, with that Mae steers Aurelia away from the Weasleys.

"Mae, is . . . Is there something wrong with me . . . That — that thing happened to me again." Aurelia whimpers.

Mae bends down to her eye level "There's nothin' wrong with ye, Aurelia Alice Malfoy, ye went through a very traumatic ordeal and yer still healing —"

"It's been two years!"

"Ye almost died, that's not something ye get over quickly, Aurelia —"

"I want to get my wand now." Aurelia says simply but firmly.

Mae sighs as Aurelia gives her a blank stare "A'right, wee moon, let's go get your wand."

* * *

Ollivander's is busy when they arrive, there's about five kids in there and three of them take about twenty minutes each getting their wands. One hits Aurelia right in the face with an empty wand box but she's cute so Aurelia lets it go and the last one sets Ollivander's eyebrows on fire. Three times. Even with the right wand.

Finally, it's Aurelia's turn.

"Hello, Mr. Ollivander." She greets politely.

He studies her for a moment, glancing at Mae before he speaks: "Ah, Miss. Malfoy, here for your wand I see. . ."

He disappears into the back of the shop, Aurelia can hear him muttering to himself as he rummages through the shelves. She's always had good hearing but after that incident, it has gotten better. Aurelia glances around the shop, Mae is doing the same thing only she seems to be more excited.

There's a wand on the front desk that captivates her attention, she moves closer to inspect it. Aurelia notes that it's made of Cypress wood, she can tell just by looking at it, Cypress trees are her favourite. Her favourite artist, Vincent Van Gogh had painted them a lot and she even has a Cypress tree in the gardens of Malfoy Manor.

Mr. Ollivander is still rummaging around so she grabs the box and reads the label.

**_Cypress Wood, Thestral Hair Core, 12 in._ **

She didn't think that she'd ever find a wand made out of Thestral hair especially here. She had once read that they are used more in the wands in Japan. Aurelia also knows what a Thestral is, she can see them due to the fact her father killed that woman right in front of her.

Aurelia picks up the wand and it's lighter than she expects. It feels right, the wand fits perfectly in her hand. So, she gives it a wave like she's seen her mum and dad do some many times before and little stars and moons burst from the tip of the wand.

She thinks she's found her wand, Aurelia looks at Mae who is beaming with pride.

"Mr. Ollivander, sir!" Aurelia calls out, "I think I've found my wand."

He reappears a few seconds later holding quite a few wand boxes, he looks surprised as he asks: "Have you, Miss. Malfoy."

"I think so." Aurelia nods.

"Hmmm, that is most surprising indeed, you pegged me as the type a wand would have difficulty choosing." He says.

She narrows her eyes.

Is that an insult? She wonders, it sounds like an insult, in fact it sounds like the worst insult a wand-maker can say to someone.

"No matter, no matter . . . Tell me, Miss. Malfoy, what wand has chosen you?"

She sheepishly presents the wand to him. The realisation that she had touched something without permission is only hitting her now.

"That is quite surprising, Miss. Malfoy. I've had that wand for over a century now, it was created by my great, great grandmother, she had been quite proud of that wand, Thestral hair is one if not the most difficult to use in wand-making. When I was a young boy she often told me that the hair came from the very Thestral in the tale of the Unicorn and the Thestral tale."

Aurelia's eyes light up, she knows that tale off by heart. Her mum and dad read that to her and Draco all the time, it's their favourite bedtime story.

"Whoa!"

Mr. Ollivander grabs another display box "She made a wand with the hair from the Unicorn but she told me that the Unicorn hair wouldn't cooperate with the Cypress wood for reasons she couldn't understand so she used Cherry wood. Your wand here gave her a hard time and for decades she was nervous to put up for sale and when she did most people refused to even try it because of its core."

"Thestrals ain't that bad." Aurelia says softly, "They're just misunderstood and weird looking."

Mr. Ollivander gives her a weird look but nods his head, she hands him the money for the wand and leaves with Mae.

"I wonder what kind of wand Draco's gonna get?" Mae says to Aurelia.

She shrugs her shoulders, studying her wand "M'not sure, probably something boring."

Mae laughs and shakes her head "Ye seem real impressed with that wand of yers, wee moon."

"Oh, I am." Aurelia says, "I think Draco should be at Madam Maulkin's right now, can we go there... I wanna rub it in his face that my wand is cooler than his is!"

"I don't think he's got his wand yet, wee moon." Mae says.

"So, why would that stop me from bragging about my wand?"

"What if his wand ends up being cooler than yers?"

Aurelia snorts "As if. . . So, can we!"

"We can. . ." Mae says, she then points at the Magical Menagerie, ". . . Or we could get ye that cat you've always wanted.

Aurelia stops walking to gape at Mae "But — but — but dad said I ain't allowed to have a pet!"

"Well, I say that ye can because ye deserve one." Mae argues, "It's not like he has to take care of it, it'll be with you at Hogwarts for most of the year."

"You could get in trouble for going against his wishes." Aurelia says fearfully, she doesn't want to lose Mae.

"I won't get in trouble, yer maw says ye can get a cat, she knows you've wanted a cat for years now so she agrees with me. If your dad as anythin' to say against it, he'll have to deal with her. Merlin have mercy on him if he does."

"Oh!" Aurelia mumbles, smiling "I can get a cat? I can actually get a cat?!"

"Yes, wee moon, ye can get a cat." Mae replies, smiling.

Aurelia squeals excitedly and runs towards the Magical Menagerie. Mae follows after her, she doesn't have the heart to scold Aurelia for running off. This is the happiest she's been in a long time.

Aurelia pushes her way through the door of the shop and begins to look for the cat she wants. It doesn't take her long to find the one she wants.

Mae comes to rest at her side and Aurelia points at the little kitten she wants so badly.

"That one, Mae. I want that one." Aurelia says firmly.

* * *

Weeks have passed since the trip to Diagon Alley, it's now the morning of September first and Aurelia Malfoy is finally going to Hogwarts.

She's got her wand, she's got her little kitten who likes to sit on her shoulder instead of the cage she bought for him, she's got everything she needs for Hogwarts. Unlike her brother, who not only slept in but had forgot to finish packing the night before.

Yet, somehow he's the one getting a more affectionate goodbye. He almost made them late for the train had it not been for the fact their mum had relented and used a little magic to help him pack. Her parents seems to have forgotten this as they praised and dotted on him in that moment as Aurelia stood of to the side.

They had already given her their goodbyes, her mum gave her a kiss and hug and tearful goodbye, her dad gave her a kiss on the forehead and a stiff hug. Then they tossed her aside for Draco.

Aurelia blinks away tears, as usual she's the least favourite, she's the odd one out, and she's not sure what she had done wrong to be treated this way.

She turns to Mae. Even though Mae's a Squib and Aurelia shouldn't care about her, she does. More often than not, she finds herself looking to Mae for comfort instead of her parents, sometimes Aurelia feels that Mae is the only family she has next to Draco.

Mae smiles sadly at Aurelia, bending down to her eye level "I'm gonna miss ye, wee moon."

Aurelia throws her arms around Mae's neck "I'm gonna miss you too, Mae!"

Mae hugs her tightly, her warm embrace is the most comforting thing Aurelia knows.

"Mae... What if — what if I don't get into Slytherin?" Aurelia whispers, finally asking the question that's been plaguing her mind since she had turned eleven.

"Nothin' will happen." Mae whispers back.

Aurelia shakes her head and pulls away "No. . . Maybe for Draco but — but not for me."

"Nothin' will happen, wee moon, I promise ye. No matter which house you're sorted into, nothin' will happen because I won't let it." Mae says firmly.

Aurelia hugs her again, Mae pats her back "Now, before ye get on that train, I want to take a picture!"

For the first time in two years, Aurelia doesn't object to having her picture taken. Instead she grins brightly and nods her head.

Mae smiles, pulling a camera out of her handbag "Okay, smile!"

"I'm already smiling!" Aurelia says, striking a pose.

Mae chuckles and snaps the photo. When Aurelia hears the click of the camera, she drops her pose and skips over to Mae. Aurelia straightens out her yellow dress and buttons up the jean jacket she had gotten from her cousin, Nym, who had outgrown it. Maeve smooths out Aurelia's pigtailed braids.

"Oh, you've grown so fast, wee moon!"

Aurelia turns as red as Mae's hair and for the third time hugs her "See you soon, Mae."

"Aye, wee moon . . . Do ye know what to do?" Mae asks softly, gesturing to the barrier.

She nods her head "Yes, I gotta run in between those two pillar things there to get to the platform. Are you gonna come with me?"

Mae frowns "No, wee moon."

Her expression is torn between disdain and longing and Aurelia realises that she never got to go on Platform 9 and 3\4 the same way Aurelia's about to. She feels bad for even asking.

"Oh, okay." Aurelia mumbles.

"I'm sorry, wee moon." Mae apologises, placing a kiss on her forehead, "Ye have fun at Hogwarts, make friends and behave!"

"I will, Mae!"

Then Aurelia runs through the barrier, she looks around the platform trying to spot the Weasleys but she has no such luck and so she gets on the train.

Aurelia finds herself an empty compartment, she doesn't bother trying to make any friends though she wants to, she highly doubts anyone will want to be her friend. She settles into the compartment and pulls out _To Kill a Mockingbird_ by _Harper Lee_ to read.

On her last visit to the Tonks, about a week ago, to get a better handle on her Metamorphmagus abilities, Nym had given her the book. Nym had said that she reminds her of Scout Finch on certain occasions. Aurelia's read the book twice now, it's become her favourite, and she's not exactly sure how she's anything thing like Scout Finch.

She isn't reading for very long long when a nervous looking boy comes knocking on the compartment door.

He's a plump little thing, about a foot shorter than herself, he's got light brown hair that Aurelia can just tell used to be blonde and greenish-brown eyes. _He's familiar_ , Aurelia knows him from somewhere.

The boy's round face is beet red and he looks around nervously as he stammers: "Can — Can I s — s — sit here? P — p — please, everywhere else is f — full."

Aurelia knows this can't be true, the train had only just started moving twenty minutes ago. She nods anyway, she'll feel too bad if she doesn't let him sit with her.

He rushes into the compartment and takes a seat right next to her despite the open seat across from them.

"I'm N — Neville long — Longbottom!" He blurts out.

She knows that name. _Well, shit_! Aurelia definitely knows this boy, she can't think of where she knows him from but _sweet Merlin_ , she _knows_ him. His face is too _familiar_ to her. In the same way that her Aunt Bellatrix is familiar to her, she's seen the woman's face, she's got clear memories of her but Aurelia doesn't know where they came from because her mum and dad insist that Aunt Bellatrix had only around her and Draco a few times.

Neville waves his had in front of her face.

"Huh?" Aurelia mumbles, blinking.

"Are — Aren't you go — gonna tell me you — your name?" Neville asks.

"Oh!" Yeah, I — I'm Aurelia Malfoy."

Neville sits up straighter and smiles "You're related to Lyra Black?"

She thinks for a moment then nods "Yeah, she's my aunt. . . I've only met her once though."

Neville grins, saying: "She's my godmum! She — she told me about you."

"Really? What did she say?"

 _Nothing good_ , Aurelia knows that for certain, Lyra hates her and she had made that the clear the first and only time they had met.

Neville's smile disappears "Oh, just — just that you'd be — be starting Hogwarts this — this year."

Aurelia nods, though she knows he's lying. Between the fact she knows her aunt wouldn't hesitate to slander her and the fact Neville's voice got slightly higher.

Changing the subject, Aurelia asks: "What's your toad's name?"

He looks down at the toad in his hands "Trevor. . . What's your cat's name?"

"Freddie." She replies, too embarrassed to tell Neville her cat's full name. She doubts he'll find it as funny as Nym did.

"What are you reading?" Neville wonders.

Aurelia's eyes light up " _To Kill a Mockingbird_. . ."

* * *

Only an hour into the train ride, the two of them had fallen asleep. Neville fell asleep first, his head rested on her shoulder as she lulled him to sleep with the book and her very soothing and very impressive southern accent. Aurelia fell asleep shortly after him.

Their peaceful slumber only last two hours as Aurelia has a nightmare and wakes up screaming.

She had been hoping to catch a break as she's had nothing but nightmare for the past week. Aurelia falls off the seat, trying to get away from the werwolf chasing after her.

Neville leans over her and she shields her face from him, crying out for him to leave her alone.

"What — what's happened?" Neville questions, panicked, "You — your hair!"

Her hair has turned white with fright.

"I had a nightmare." Aurelia mumbles.

Neville doesn't hear her "You — your hair, it — it's white!"

"Oh, yeah. . . It does that sometimes. . . I'm a Metamorphmagus."

"You're a what?"

"A — a — a meta — Metamorphmagus. . . They can —"

"I know what they are, they're rare! I've never met one before. Lyra said that her one niece, Nymph — Nymphadora was a Metamorphmagus. I think that's so cool!"

She blushes at indirectly being called cool.

"B — b — but if it's not your hair then why are — are you screaming?" Neville wonders.

"I had a nightmare." Aurelia replies, hoping to Merlin that he doesn't ask what it had been about.

"Oh. . . Are you alright?"

She nods, he helps her off the ground and back onto the seat.

Suddenly his eyes widen in horror as he stares at his hands "Oh, no! I — I've lost Trevor again!"

The toad must've hopped out of the compartment while they slept. Neville looks close to tears and Aurelia feels so bad for him.

"Don't worry, we'll find him! We can look for him, I can go one way and you can go the other. Trevor can't have gone far. . . How does that sound?"

Neville sniffles and nods his head. So, they split up in search of Neville's lost toad.

* * *

During her quest for Trevor, Aurelia finds many things but he's not one of them. She finds a very mean Hufflepuff who compares her to her imprisoned Aunt Bellatrix, she finds the Boy-Who-Lived sitting with Ron Weasley, both of whom had already been asked by two other people about a toad. Aurelia finds another first year who offers her a seat in the compartment, she's wearing a Queen shirt and Aurelia knows that she'll have to befriend her at one point, for Nym's sake at least.

It seems that Neville had no such luck finding Trevor either. They reunite at Hogsmeade station when the train comes to a stop. Neville is empty-handed and distraught.

"Don't worry, he'll turn up eventually." Aurelia reassures him.

A giant man that Aurelia knows to be Hagrid calls over all the first years. Neville doesn't move an inch, clearly terrified by him. Aurelia grabs Neville's hand and leads him over with all the other first years.

"Don't worry, Neville! Hagrid's harmless, my cousin told me so!" Aurelia tells Neville who nods.

"I — I know." He mumbles, his godmother works at Hogwarts as the Muggle Studies teacher, he knows a lot about the staff and he knows that Hagrid's really nice but he's still scared of him.

Hagrid leads the first years to a bunch of boats. Aurelia pales at the sight of them, she internally screams at the lake before her.

 _Oh, bloody hell_!

She hates water, she always has. It's been that way for as long as she can remember.

Neville gets into the boat cautiously, afraid that he might tip it over. Aurelia still hasn't moved a muscle, so he gets out and helps her in. She sits down, clutching the side of the boat for dear life as Neville takes a spot next to her.

Two other girls take a seat in the boat.

"Are you alright?" Neville wonders.

She swallows thickly "Don't laugh, but... I'm afraid of water."

"Can't you swim?" One of the girls asks.

Aurelia looks at her nervously before replying: "I can swim but water still scares me."

The girl nods, playing with one of her blonde pigtails "I don't blame you, I can't even see the bottom — I'm Hannah, by the way! Hannah Abbott."

"I'm Aurelia Malfoy."

Hannah turns Neville, her pink face getting even pinker as she asks: "And you are?"

"Neville Longbottom." Neville whispers.

"I'm Olivia!" The other girl blurts out, "Olivia Newton and, yes, my mother knew exactly what she was doing when she named me."

The three share a confused look, they don't understand what Olivia meant by that. Olivia's the one who had been wearing that Queen shirt on the train.

"I'm a Muggle-Born!" Olivia says brightly than flinches.

While, Neville and Hannah show no signs of prejudice, Aurelia does though she doesn't mean to.

Aurelia doesn't quite believe that Muggles and Muggle-Borns are below her to the extent that her parents do. In fact, she hardly believes it anymore, she did once but that had been before she had met her Uncle Ted. Still, it's a habit of hers to move away or frown at them when she sees one.

Realising how rude that had been, Aurelia mutters an apology and leans into Neville. Olivia's no longer phased by her reaction as she continues to ramble on, excitedly.

"How much do you know about Hogwarts? I tried to read it but that was too boring for me! I couldn't sit through even a few pages of Hogwarts: a History. My dad's a History professor and I love history but the books are always so boring, he tried to read it to me but I got distracted. I did happen to hear that there's a talking hat that places us into different house, or something like that — how do you think that works, what does that mean?"

Aurelia knows the answer to this but she's too embarrassed to speak.

"Yeah." Neville whispers, "My — my godmum works at Hogwarts. . . There's a Sorting Hat that will sort you into the different Hogwarts Houses."

"Whoa! What are the houses?" Olivia gasps.

"Well, there's Gryffindor for the brave, there's Slytherin for the ambitious, Raveclaw for the creative and wise, and Hufflepuff for the loyal. At least, that's how my godmum explained it to me."

Aurelia almost sighs in relief. She's plenty of ambitious, so she's got a good chance of being sorted into Slytherin.

"What house are y'all hoping to get into?" Olivia asks them giddily.

"Hufflepuff!" Hannah answers proudly, "Most of my family has been in that house!"

"My parents were in Gryffindor and I want to — to be in there as well but I — I don't think I'm brave enough."

Suddenly it hits Aurelia, she knows Neville because of her Aunt Bellatrix. She tortured the Longbottoms, Alice and Frank, both of whom had been Gryffindors. That's why Aunt Bellatrix is in Azkaban now. Neville's parents are in St. Mungo's because of her aunt and he must know this because he knows Lyra and there's no way one can't tell she's related to Bellatrix. _Oh, bloody hell_!

Aurelia frowns "That's not true, I think you're loads of brave! You wouldn't have sat with me if you weren't!"

"What's that got to do with —"

"Oh, look! Isn't it beautiful!" Hannah exclaims excitedly.

In the distance, Hogwarts can be seen. It's much larger than Aurelia expects.

"Wow!" Olivia gasps breathless, her dark brown eyes alight with excitement and wonder.

Soon they arrive on the castle grounds, Hannah helps Aurelia out of the boat along with Neville, Olivia gets out of the boat just fine despite bouncing around excitedly.

"Oi, you there, is this yer toad?" Hagrid asks after he checked the boat Neville had just left.

"Trevor!" Neville cries blissfully, grabbing his toad from Hagrid.

Then Hagrid leads them up a passage way towards the castle. The closer they get to the castle, the more nervous Aurelia gets. She glances at Neville to see that he looks deeply saddened.

"Hey, Neville?" She questions, "Why so blue?"

Neville looks up and raises an eyebrow "That's green."

Aurelia turns red, grabbing a handful of her hair. It is indeed green.

"Oh, well. . . In that case, just ignore my joke completely!" Aurelia laughs nervously.

Neville doesn't laugh and she worries that she's ruined any chance of friendship with him. He walks ahead of her and fear bubbles in the pit of her stomach.

She matches his pace with ease, Aurelia bites her lip as she tries to think of a good ice-breaker. 'I fought a werewolf!' comes to mind multiple times like Draco encouraged she use but she rather not tell anyone about the ugly scars on her face.

Neville turns to her "Do — do you hate Muggle-borns?"

Aurelia stiffens.

Lyra had told him to expect this but he's still disappointed by it nevertheless, he frowns "I — I saw how you reacted to — to that girl on the boat. . . If — if you —"

"I don't hate Muggle-Borns!" Aurelia says.

She's not sure but she wants to be his friend so desperately.

"You don't?"

No, I don't — I don't know!" Aurelia starts to cry, "I don't know what I think."

Aurelia hugs herself. She just wants friends even if those friends go against what she's supposed to believe.

"I don't hate them." She says firmly.

Neville nods and they continue their way up to Hogwarts. The group of first years soon arrive at the castle door, Hagrid knocks of the door and it swings open at once.

A tall, strict-looking, black-haired witch stands in the doorway. From beside her, she hears Neville gulp loudly and she turns to him, he looks very intimidated by the witch.

"That's Professor McGonagall." Aurelia whispers in his ear, "Nym tells me she's the bee's knees."

Neville snorts quietly as Hagrid exchanges a few words with Professor McGonagall.

"Bee's knees?" Neville questions quietly, "Who even say — says that?"

Professor McGonagall beckons the first years inside.

"I do! All the time, it's fun to say!" Aurelia gasps, pretending to be offended.

Neville giggles and she gives him a pointed look.

"Okay, okay. . . It's a little fun to say." He relents.

"It's a lot of fun to say!" Aurelia says, grinning.

Professor McGonagall leads them through the Entrance Hall to a small chamber just off the side.

"Welcome to Hogwarts." She says, "The Start-Of-Term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room."

Aurelia shares a look with Neville, if she can't get into Slytherin then she hope she gets into Gryffindor — she just knows that he's going to be a Gryffindor — with him. Though, Aurelia doesn't think she has the qualities of a Gryffindor.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

Professor McGonagall's gaze lingers on Neville's cloak which is fastened under his left ear "I shall return when we are ready for you."

She leaves the chamber and Aurelia suddenly feels sick to her stomach.

Every Malfoy ever has been sorted into Slytherin, that's where she must go. Her dad, shortly after the twins had received their Hogwarts Acceptance Letter, had sat them down to answer their questions about Hogwarts. At one point, he had looked at them with that steely gaze of his and said: _"You'll be in Slytherin, I know that for certain."_ which in Aurelia's mind, roughly translated to: _"It's Slytherin or bust, kids."_

Aurelia is distracted from her thoughts by startled screams of the other first years. Neville grabs onto Aurelia's hand, letting out a frightful gasp.

She looks up to see multiple ghosts floating by, she's not that surprised by this has Nym had told her all about them.

Neville lets go of of her hand, turning red as he stammers out an apology. She shrugs it off with a smile and proceeds to fix his cloak.

"Hope to see you all in Hufflepuff, that was my old house, you know." Aurelia hears one of the ghosts say.

"Move along. The Sorting Ceremony is about to start." Professor McGonagall commands upon returning to the chamber, "Now, form a line and follow me."

Aurelia's hair turns a vibrant white with a green hue, she feels sick. Nevertheless, she does as she's told and gets in line behind Neville.

The group of first years enter the great hall, Aurelia's too nervous to be in awe of it like most of the other first years are. Aurelia spots the Weasley twins sitting at the Gryffindor table and they seem to have spotted her as well as they give her a thumbs up.

They come to a stop, the Sorting is about to begin. Aurelia doesn't want to disappoint her parents. Not again. In front of her, Neville is dealing with the same fear. He wants to be in Gryffindor but he thinks it might be easier and better if he's sorted into Hufflepuff.

Without thinking, Neville grabs Aurelia's hand. Though, he's wary of her because of the things Lyra had told him about her, he can't help but find comfort in her. There's something about her that's oddly familiar, he can't put his finger on it but he feels as though they're meant to be friends.

When Aurelia squeezes his hand, he realises what he has done and quickly pulls his hand away.

He goes to apologise but he falls silent as the Sorting Hat starts singing its' song.

The whole hall bursts into applause when the Sorting Hat finishes singing. It bows to each of the four tables and becomes still again.

"I'm sorry that I keep grabbing your hand." Neville apologises.

Professor McGonagall steps forward, holding a long roll of parchment and announces: "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted."

Professor McGonagall clears her throat "Abbott, Hannah!"

Hannah stumbles out of line, puts on the hat, which falls right down over her eyes, and sits down on the stool. A moments pause and then the hat shouts: "HUFFLEPUFF!"

Aurelia claps her hands for the blonde than holds one out for Neville to hold "Don't apologise, it really doesn't bother me, you call hold my hand all you want. . . You have nice skin by the way."

Neville's eyebrows scrunch together as he peers at her, confused "Th — th — thank you?"

"You're welcome." Aurelia says softly.

They hold hands until Neville gets called up, as she expects he gets sorted into Gryffindor.

She claps for him but she's quickly stopped by Draco.

"What are you doing?" He hisses.

"Clapping for my friend." She replies, frowning.

"He's a Longbottom! You can't be friends with him!" He tells her, shaking his head.

"Why not?"

He gives her an incredulous look "You know why!"

"I — oh."

"L — Malfoy, Aurelia." Professor McGonagall calls out.

She swallows thickly and puts on her best Malfoy facade and struts up to the stool. Before she takes a seat, she catches her aunt's hateful glare from the staff table. Aurelia's false confidence almost wilts right then and there but she does her best to give Aunt Lyra a smug grin. Once she sits down, the Sorting Hat is placed on her head.

"A Black, huh? It's certainly been awhile since I've sorted one of you. You're just like your mother."

Aurelia just barely represses the urge to turn to Aunt Lyra and stick out her tongue. The woman had told her that she's just like her Aunt Bellatrix more than her mother.

_"However, Slytherin is not the house for you."_

_Uh, excuse me Mr. Sorting Hat but what the bloody hell do you mean Slytherin isn't for me? I have to be in Slytherin_!

The Sorting Hat chuckles " _While you have a few Slytherin traits, they aren't your strongest. You're more hard-working than you are ambitious, you're more fair than you are cunning, you're not the most patient person, neither was your mother... Just like her, your strongest trait is loyalty. You value loyalty over all your traits which is what makes Hufflepuff the perfect house for you. Hufflepuff will help you grow into the talented witch you are meant to be._ "

 _No_ , Aurelia thinks, _I can't be in Slytherin. Everyone in her bloody family save for Sirius Black and Nym, had been in Slytherin. Put me in Slytherin_.

_"Your father wasn't in Slytherin. I'm surprised to see who he is but he most definitely wasn't a Slytherin."_

_What do you_ —

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Aurelia almost screams.

They'll never forgive her for this.

From behind her, she hears Aunt Lyra choke on her wine: "What?!"

She's a disappointment, she's a failure. She's the odd one out as usual.

Professor McGonagall places her hand on Aurelia's shoulder "Miss. L — Malfoy, you must take your seat at your house table now."

Aurelia nods her head, blinking away tears. She steps off the stool and stumbles over to the table.

"Malfoy, Draco!"

The Sorting Hat shouts: "SLYTHERIN!" without hesitation.

Why is always her? Why is it always Aurelia who ends up being different. Why is she always the odd one out. She thinks it's terribly unfair that no matter how hard she tries to be a Malfoy even though she doesn't like what they like, she's always treated second best. Any chance of being the golden child has just been thrown out the window all thanks to a stupid, singing\talking hat! She'll forever be the odd one out, what kind of Malfoy doesn't get sorted into Slytherin?! How can she be that much of a failure?

Aurelia begrudgingly takes a seat at the Hufflepuff table.

"Hello!" A bronze-haired teen greets her, "Welcome to Hufflepuff, I'm Cedric Diggory — oh! You're crying."

Aurelia nods her head, letting out a pitiful whine "I'm not su — su — supposed to be in Hufflepuff!"

"Well, the Sorting Hat is never wrong... Honestly, Hufflepuff isn't that bad of a house, I swear to you, you'll make lots of friends and good memories here."

"I know, my cousin was in this house but — but I can't be in it. My parents will — will be so — so mad, they might e — even kick me out!"

Cedric pulls her into a one-armed hug which surprises her "Well, here in Hufflepuff we're one big family, so if that happens, I'll be your new mother."

"Wh —"

"Shhh, I'll be your new mother now. . . We Hufflepuffs have got your back now, we'll be your family if you need one."

Although it's weird to hear a teenaged boy call himself her mother, it's oddly comforting at the same time. Aurelia smiles, maybe Hufflepuff won't be so bad, maybe this is her chance to find her place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aurelia suffers from PTSD (but she doesn't realise it) and it's not something I suffer from but I've done research on it and I'm trying my best to portray it properly, if anyone thinks I'm portraying it wrong please kindly let me know so I can fix it. I don't want to portray it the wrong as it is a serious issue that I want to handle it seriously... Of course, I had to keep the original ending of the prologue from Make Them Gold, Mama Cedric is too iconic to leave out! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, please leave a review letting me know what you thought of it, also leaving kudos and bookmarking this story would be much appreciated!


	3. | I: ❝Werewolf Woes❞

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there and welcome to the first chapter of Make Them Gold! Since I posted this I've gotten a lot written for it and I'm super excited with how well it's going! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the first chapter, please leave a review letting me know what you thought of it, also favouriting and following this story would be much appreciated

****

**CHAPTER i ** _!_**  
** Werewolf Woes

* * *

 

 **HER BREATH CATCHES IN HER THROAT** , **EYES** widening in horror "You — You're a were — werewolf?"

The fear in Aurelia's eyes breaks Professor Lupin's heart "Miss. Black, I'm —"

"No! Get — Get a — away from me!" She exclaims, stumbling backwards.

Most of the students in the Great Hall have abandoned their breakfast to either gawk at their Professor who happens to be a werewolf or watch the drama unfolding before them.

Tears blur her vision, she doesn't see Professor Lupin but that werewolf who attacked her.

That ecstatic blonde-haired woman with the dishevelled hair and the mad glint in her eyes invades Aurelia's mind and it's just like she's back in that forest.

"Get — Get away from me, werewolf?" She exclaims.

From behind her, Neville gasps in surprise. Dean and Seamus share looks of disappointment. This is the most Malfoy thing she's ever done.

The crunch of the leaves, the painful cries of the woman as she transforms is all Aurelia can hear.

Aurelia trips over her own two feet trying to get away from Professor Lupin who in Aurelia's mind isn't really Professor Lupin.

He bends down, speaking softly: "Miss. Black, you are safe, you are at Hogwarts. You are not in danger."

She squeezes her eyes shut, _the woman's getting closer_.

"Miss. Black, listen to me . . . You are not in danger."

 _She's getting even closer_ , Aurelia can hear her pained breathing clearly, she can hear the shifting of her bones as she transforms into a werewolf.

Draco pushes his way through the gathering crowd and leans next to her "Lia?"

Aurelia pays no attention to him, her eyes are focused on something just behind Professor Lupin.

 _She's right in front of her_.

 _She's so close_ Aurelia can feel her breathing on her face.

Aurelia whimpers _as the werewolf opens her jaws and_ —

"Lia, it's okay, you're in Hogwarts." Draco says quietly.

 _The werewolf raises her paw_ but she doesn't strike Aurelia.

Draco shakes Aurelia earning a scolding remark from Professor Lupin.

He glares at the professor then turns back to Aurelia "C'mon, Lia! Snap out of it!"

Aurelia whines and tries to move away from the werewolf but something is holding her in her place. She struggles in Draco's hold.

Neville realises something very wrong is happening to Aurelia, it's not what he thinks. He leans down next to her and asks: "Ari, are you al —"

"Stay out of this, Longbottom!" Draco snarls, pushing him away from Aurelia.

He turns back to her, "Lia, it's not real. . . Here!"

Draco remembers the tricks his father had used on her, they had worked most of the time, he pulls his wand from his pocket "Orchideous!"

A bouquet of brightly coloured flowers burst from the tip of his wand and he holds them in out in front of Aurelia's face "Look at the flowers, Lia."

She stare right past them for a few seconds, Draco grabs her one hands and brings them up to touch the flowers "Look at the flowers, Lia."

Aurelia blinks, her fingers graze over the flowers and then her eyes widen. A gasp leaves her lips and she squeezes the flower petals, tearing them. She realises that she's in the Great Hall, she had never left . . . Aurelia has these moments a lot where she slips back into that moment and she thinks it's happening over again, but it's never happened at Hogwarts before.

She looks around the Great Hall, her face turns bright red. Her guts twist painfully and she's overcome with dread.

"Fuck." She mutters under her breath.

She looks to Neville then to Dean and Seamus, Dean is glaring at her. Her heart races, _oh no_ , her hair turns black. She had never had one of these at Hogwarts before and none of her friends know about the werewolf that had attacked her. They probably think she's being prejudiced towards him or something.

She needs to get out of here, many people are staring at her like she's some kind of freak, she needs to get away.

Professor Lupin helps her up "Come along, Miss. Black, I'll take you to see Madam Pomfrey."

Aurelia doesn't want to see Madam Pomfrey, she doesn't want to go anywhere near the hospital wing.

Professor Lupin leads her out of the Great Hall.

Draco looks at the crowd and snarls "What are you staring at?! Don't you have anything better to do?"

* * *

Aurelia manages to convince Professor Lupin not to bring her to the hospital wing so he brings her to his office where he offers her a chocolate bar. They sit in silence as Professor Lupin packs up his things and she wraps her brain around the fact that her favourite professor next Professor Binns is a bloody werewolf.

"Do you have to resign?" Aurelia wonders, breaking apart her chocolate bar.

Aurelia, although terrified by the fact he's a werewolf, doesn't want him to leave. She does enjoy him as a teacher and as a person as well, she knows he can't help what he is. He has always been so kind to her, and in the past year she has come to view him as a father.

That fact that he's a werewolf doesn't change much, she had just be caught off guard, werewolves still terrify her to this day. But, Remus himself doesn't terrify her.

Professor swallows the bite of chocolate he had been chewing and says: "I'm afraid I must, Miss. Black."

"No, sir!" She protests, "Can't you continue to teach?!"

"I don't think many parents will want a werewolf teaching their children."

"Fuck them." Aurelia says aggressively.

"Language!" He scolds, glancing up from the Marauder's Map on his desk, she rolls her eyes.

"English them." She rephrases her previous comment in a sarcastic tone, he gives her a dry look.

"What, you told me 'Language.' and English is a language, professor." She counters, sweetly.

"I meant — never mind." He sighs and she grins victorious.

Her grin quickly turns into a frown as he places yet another thing in his trunk.

"Please, can't you stay? I'll give you more chocolate bars!" She begs.

"You've already given me two hundred of them." Professor Lupin laughs softly, shaking his head.

"Two hundred and seven." Aurelia corrects, "Please stay?"

"This is for the best, Miss Black."

"I didn't mean to — to do that. . ." Aurelia whispers, "Please don't leave because of that. . . Please, sir."

"Miss. Black, I'm not solely leaving because of that. I know you didn't mean to do that, it's nothing you can control so please don't feel bad about it." Professor Lupin says, "I'm leaving because it will cause too many problems if I'm to stay."

Aurelia attempts to argue further but she's interrupted by a knock on the door, they look over their shoulders to find Harry standing in the doorway.

Harry looks surprised to see Aurelia there "Is Professor Lupin here?" he wonders.

Aurelia wonders if he had witnessed her outburst. She swallows thickly, feeling panicked yet again, he might be angry with her like her friends seem to be.

"I saw you coming —" Professor Lupin begins to say.

"Where wolf?" She blurts out.

"Yes, he's a werewolf but that's not —"

"There wolf." Aurelia blurts out again, pointing at Professor Lupin.

"Miss Black, you are worse than Sirius was when he was your age." Professor Lupin groans.

"Ah, yes that's what every girl loves to hear, that she's just like a mass-murderer!" Aurelia says sarcastically.

"Actually, Blue. Your father's innocent." Harry tells her.

She stares at him, frustration bubbling in the pit of her stomach. Sirius isn't her father. If one more person calls her 'Black's daughter' she's going to scream. Seamus Finnigan just had to go and start that joke about her being Sirius' secret daughter. Though, she reminds herself, it's still a step up from his on-going 'Aurelia's Bellatrix's daughter!' joke. Aurelia's lucky that it had been the Sirius joke that caught on and not the other.

"He's innocent?"

Harry nods "Oh, yes, Sirius is innocent. It was Peter Pettigrew that did everything Sirius was accused of. I figured since he's your dad and all, you had the right to know. And we helped him escape last night, I'm sure he'll be in contact with you soon."

"He's not my dad, Harry." Aurelia replies, still processing the fact that Sirius is innocent, someone from her family besides the Tonks had turned out good.

"He's not?"

"No, those were just rumors that Seamus spread around to get a rise out of me, like the one where Bellabitch Leshithead was my mother, imagine if she was and Sirius was my father as well, do you know how incesty that would be?! Not that the most noble and ancient house of Black would be against it." Aurelia explains, snorting.

"He's really not your father?"

"Nope, there's no chance at all he's my father."

A minute passes before Harry mutters, "Oh." looking very confused, "Well, uh, don't tell anyone that we helped a supposed murder escape."

"Oh, damn, that would've been a great conversation starter. Thanks for ruining my fun, Harold." Aurelia quips

"My name isn't, Harold!" Harry says, giving her a funny look.

"It's Harold in my book." She says.

Harry sighs then turns to Professor Lupin who is watching the two teens, clearly amused.

"I just saw Hagrid." Harry says, "And he said you'd resigned. It's not true, is it?"

"I'm afraid it is," Professor Lupin replies, opening his desk drawers and taking out the contents.

"Why?" Harry asks, "The Ministry of Magic don't think you were helping Sirius, do they?"

Professor Lupin crosses over to the door and closes it behind Harry "No. Professor Dumbledore managed to convince Fudge that I was trying to save your lives. That was the final straw for Severus. I think the loss of the Order of Merlin hit him hard. So he — er — accidentally let slip that I am a werewolf this morning at breakfast."

"Accidentally." Aurelia scoffs, "Accidentally, my ass."

"You're not leaving just because of that!" Harry exclaims, earning a wryly smile from the professor.

"This time tomorrow, the owls will start arriving from parents. . . They will not want a werewolf teaching their children, Harry. And after last night, I see their point. I could have bitten any of you. . . That must never happen again."

"You're the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've ever had!" Harry cries, "Don't go!"

"My point exactly!" Aurelia pipes in.

"From what the headmaster told me this morning, you saved a lot of lives last night, Harry. If I'm proud of anything I've done this year, it's how much you've learned. . . Tell me about your Patronus."

"How d'you know about that?" Harry wonders.

"What else could have driven the dementors back?"

"You produced a Patronus?!" Aurelia questions, looking at Harry in amazement, he nods and tells the story of how he had produced his Patronus.

She had produced her Patronus too, Aurelia had learned about the spell from Maeve years ago and when Professor Lupin had offered to teach her how to conjure one after she had been attacked by the Dementors and Aurelia had eagerly accepted his help. It had taken her two attempts to conjure her Patronus and it had been a corporeal one but it had only lasted two seconds. The memory she had used to conjure it had been of her Aunt Bellatrix and the moment the realisation that her happiest memory consisted of the person who had tortured her best friend\crush's parents, the guilt hit her hard and it had disappeared.

It had been a hummingbird. Aurelia hasn't attempted to conjure her Patronus since then.

When Harry had finished his story, Professor Lupin smiles.

"Yes, your father was always a stag when he transformed. You guessed right... That's why we called him, Prongs." Professor Lupin tells Harry, throwing his last few books into his case, he closes the desk drawers and turns to look at Harry, "Here — I brought this from the Shrieking Shack last night," and hands Harry back his Invisibility Cloak.

"Ye've got a Invisibility cloak too?" Aurelia asks and Harry nods, "Wow, those are super rare, my mum and dad bought me one for my eighth birthday it's the most expensive thing they've ever bought me, Draco pitched a fit because he didn't get one as well. . ."

Harry laughs.

"And. . ." Professor Lupin hesitates then holds out the Marauder's Map, "I am no longer your teacher, so I don't feel guilty about giving you back this as well. It's no use to me, and I daresay you, Ron, and Hermione will find uses for it."

Harry takes the the map and grins "You told me Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, Foxtrot, and Prongs would've wanted to lure me out of school. . . You said they'd have thought it was funny."

"And so we would have," Professor Lupin replies, now reaching down to close his case, Aurelia's confused as to who they're talking about, "I have no hesitation in saying that James would have been highly disappointed if his son had never found any of the secret passages out of the castle."

There's a knock on the door and Harry hastily stuffs the Marauder's Map and the invisibility cloak into his pocket. It's Professor Dumbledore, he doesn't look surprised to see Harry and Aurelia there "Your carriage is at the gates, Remus." he announces.

"Thank you, Headmaster." Professor Lupin says, picking up his old suitcase and the empty Grindylow tank.

"Well, goodbye, Harry, Aurelia" he adds, smiling, "It has been a real pleasure teaching you. I feel sure we'll meet again some time. Headmaster, there is no need to see me to the gates, I can manage. . ."

"Goodbye, then, Remus." Professor Dumbledore says soberly and Professor Lupin shifts the Grindylow tank slightly so that they could shake hands.

Then, with a final nod to Harry and Aurelia, Professor Lupin leaves the office.

Aurelia excuses herself shortly after, she doesn't like being around Professor Dumbledore. It's not that she doesn't dislike him per se, it's that she doesn't like the vibes he gives off. She especially doesn't like how he looks at her, it's like he knows something about her that not even she knows and it gives her the heebie-jeebies.

* * *

Neville's worried about Aurelia. Dean and Seamus suggest that her reaction is due to the fact that she still holds a little prejudice in her heart but Neville can't help but think there's something more to it than that.

That hadn't been hatred in her eyes but unmistakable horror. It's rare that he sees Aurelia look so fearful and vulnerable, she usually very confident. He tries to think up reasons as to why she had reacted the way she had.

Up until today Aurelia had adored Professor Lupin even when he made her face her Boggart despite the fact she asked him not to. He told to her to at least give it a try and if she couldn't face the — _oh_.

He turns to Dean and Seamus and exclaims: "She's afraid of werewolves! Re — remember, her Boggart's a werewolf!"

"Oh!" Dean and Seamus gasp in realisation.

The two boys are just about to head to Hogsmeade with the other students, Neville can't go because of the whole password fiasco and even if he could he much rather wait here for Aurelia to come back to the Great Hall so he can make sure she's alright.

"Well, that sure makes sense." Dean says, he no longer looks angry with Aurelia.

Seamus nods "Yeah, how could we forget that?. . . Are you sure you don't want us to stay behind with you, we really don't mind?"

Seamus' Irish accent is so thick and even though Neville has known him for three years, he still has trouble understanding what he says. Which is quite odd since he happens to understand Aurelia's Scottish accent perfectly.

"Do you want us to stay with you?" Dean supplies, seeing the confused look on Neville's face.

"Oh! Er, no. . . I'm fine, really."

The two hesitate.

"I'm fine, I'm gonna wait for Aurelia, she'll be back soon."

Dean nods his and turns to leave with the others for Hogsmeade, while he isn't looking Seamus makes kissy faces at him until Dean comes back to grab him by the hand and drag him out of the great hall.

In return Neville makes kissy faces at him while Seamus is led out of the Great Hall by Dean; Seamus flips him off.

Neville patiently waits for Aurelia to come back to the Great Hall, he knows she will because she hasn't eaten anything yet and she never misses a meal unless she's really sick; Aurelia especially doesn't skip breakfast.

He busies himself with Aurelia's copy of _To Kill a Mockingbird_ , Neville doesn't understand the book but he likes to read it because she loves it so much, though he prefers it when Aurelia does it because she reads it in a funny southern accent that makes the book far more enjoyable.

Finally, Aurelia returns to the Great Hall, she silently takes a seat across from Neville, so silent that he almost doesn't notice her.

"Oh! Ari, you — you're back!" He says, putting the book down.

She nods, for some reason she looks like a child that knows they're about to get the scolding of a lifetime.

"I'm sorry. . ." She mumbles.

"Why are you apologising?" He wonders.

"I shouldn't have done that. . . I was —"

"That's not your fault, Ari." He cuts her off, "You shouldn't apologise for that. You were just scared **,** you couldn't help it."

"You. . . You don't think I'm a freak?" Aurelia asks.

Neville shakes his head vigorously "No! I would never, you're not a freak."

Aurelia sighs, relieved. She smiles at him, the last thing Aurelia would want is for Neville to think she's a freak.

"Why are you so afraid of werewolves?" He asks, it had been the last thing he expected her Boggart to be, he thought it might've been the fear of rejection or maybe the Malfoys.

Aurelia licks her lips nervously and shrugs her shoulders "I'm not sure, they've just always scared me."

She lying and Aurelia never lies to him but he's noticed that when she's lied to others she licks her lips or scrunches up her little nose. Neville doesn't understand why she'd lie to him about something like this.

"What are you reading?" Aurelia ask, picking up the book off the table.

" _To Kill a Mockingbird_." Neville replies, he decides not to press the matter any further in fear of upsetting Aurelia.

She smiles "Do you want me to read to you?"

He nods.

She flips open to the bookmarked page and begins to read in a southern accent: ". . . _Little Chuck Little got his feet "Let him go, ma'am." he said, "He's a mean one, a hard-down mean one_. . ."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aurelia reads To Kill a Mockingbird to Neville in the voices of the movie characters and that facts make my heart go *insert a bunch heart emojis* God I love them! How do you think Neville will react when he finds out about the werewolf attack? Also they need a ship name and all the ones I've come up with suck so if you got any ideas let me know! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, please leave a review letting me know what you thought of it, also favouriting and following this story would be much appreciated!!


	4. | II: ❝Sunflower Girl & Plant Boy!❞

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you have any theories or suggestions for this story I would love to hear them! At the end of this chapter I have a list of ship names for Aurelia and Neville so when you finished reading this chapter, check them out and let me know what one you like best! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the chapter, please leave a review letting me know what you thought of it, also adding this story to your bookmarks or giving some kudos would be much appreciated!

****

**CHAPTER ii** ** _!_**  
Sunflower Girl  & Plant Boy!

* * *

 

" **IT'S SUMMER! IT'S SUMMER**! **IT'S SUMMER**!" **SEAMUS** chants obnoxiously loudly as they made their way to Hogsmeade Station. He's been chanting that the whole way, getting louder each time.

"I'm gonna kill him." Aurelia mumbles to Neville.

Neville laughs quietly as he wraps his arms around her waist, keeping her in place on his lap.

"Murder is bad, Ari." He tells her.

"Not if it's justified." She whispers back, to which Neville sighs and shakes his head.

"It's summer! It's summer! It's —"

"Seamus for the love of God! Shut up!" Dean yells exasperated.

Seamus falls silent, he looks Dean dead in the eyes and opens his mouth: "IT'S SUMMER — ARGH!"

"THAT'S IT!" Aurelia shrieks, lunging at Seamus.

Aurelia's slender fingers are just inches shy of of Seamus' collar. Had it not been for Neville holding her back she would've been able to tackle the sandy-haired boy.

She laughs at the mortified expression Seamus' face and leans back into Neville's lap.

Seamus glares "You skinny malink!"

Aurelia narrows her eyes "You hackit dobber!"

"Quare Hawk!"

"Howlin' lavvy heid!"

"You're a right wagon!"

"And you're a scabby scrote!"

Seamus gasps dramatically giving her a wounded look "That's low, Black."

Aurelia smirks "I can go lower."

Seamus scowls, as usual Aurelia gets the last word.

Neville smiles, laughing: "That's my Sunflower Girl!"

Seamus chokes on his spit "Did you just call, Black, your girl?"

Neville blushes. This nickname is his only way of showing his feelings for her without it being to obvious. And, Seamus goes and points it out.

"He always does that." Natalie 'Nat' Wilkes, Neville's neighbour and one of Aurelia's best friends, pipes in. She looks up from her sketchbook, her Ravenclaw tie splattered in orange paint, and smiles at Neville.

Dean nods in agreement "Yeah, he's called her that all year."

Olivia laughs from Nat's side, her long brown curls fall into her oval-shaped face as she laughs hard and loud.

"You're a real slow bloke, Finnigan. We all caught onto that a week into the school year."

"Actually!" Aurelia cuts in, her face's redder than a Weasley's hair, "He's called me that since first year."

 _That's true_ , Neville thinks. He only found it fair that he call her Sunflower Girl since she always had some sunflower-related thing on her all the time if she had insisted on calling him Plant Boy because he likes Herbology. However, for him, the silly nickname has become so much more to him.

"Yeah, but he just started calling you 'my Sunflower Girl' this year." Nat points out.

Neville contemplates curling up and dying right there.

"Let's not forget to mention Blue calls Longbottom 'Plant Boy'!" Olivia adds and Nat laughs.

"That kinda sounds like a superheroes alter-ego . . . Merlin, now I'm picturing Blue and Neville as _X-Men_! 'Sunflower Girl  & Plant Boy: Here to Save the Planet!' . . . Blue would get along great with _Wolverine_." Dean says, laughing loudly.

"That is the best compliment any has ever said to me." Aurelia says, eyes wide with delight, " _Wolverine_ is the dad I've always wanted."

"Stop avoiding the point! Neville calls Black 'my Sunflower Girl'! This is huge!" Seamus exclaims, looking like a little kid in a candy store.

"I don't understand . . . What's the big deal?" Aurelia questions.

Everyone even Neville groans, Aurelia stares at them, clearly confused.

"Am I missing something here?"

"No, not — nothing." Neville says quickly, "So, what are you doing this summer?"

His change of subject confuses her further. He's hiding something from her, Neville's never hid things from her before, _what's he hiding from me_?

Of course, she can't get angry at him if he's hiding something from her because that'd make her a bloody hypocrite. This didn't stop her from worrying Neville's odd behaviour. She's worried that it has something to do with the Professor Lupin incident, maybe he really is mad at her for what she had done.

Or worse . . . Maybe he thinks she's stupid or weird for how she reacted to Professor Lupin being a werewolf.

 _No_ , she thinks as she shakes her head, _no, you're just being paranoid_!

"— And as usual, Heather's being a little prissy child about the whole thing. She's not happy that we're going to the Van Gogh museum! She's threw a fit about it all through out Christmas Holidays!"

"Heather's so bloody dramatic!" Olivia giggles, rolling her eyes and Nat hums in agreement.

"Dean and I are going to the Quidditch World Cup!" Seamus says.

 _Oooh, like a date_! Aurelia thinks, giving Seamus a pointed look and teasing smile.

Seamus despite not being an Legilimens seems to know just what she's thinking as he glares at her.

"If it weren't for the laws of this land I would've slaughtered you by now." Seamus mouths to her.

"Hey, aren't you going to the World Cup, Blue?" Dean asks.

She nods "Yep! Mae, Ellie, and I are going with the Weasleys!"

"What about you, Neville?" Seamus asks.

"Oh, I'm grounded, I can't go . . . But, Ari did offer me a ticket if I wanted to go."

Seamus smirks "Did she n — OW!"

Aurelia kicks him, giving him a dark glare "Sod off, Finnigan!"

Seamus knows that she sort of likes Neville just as she knows he sort of likes Dean. They never admitted this to each other they just came to the assumption and started to tease one another with looks, smirks, and eyebrow wiggling. It's all fun and games until someone says something out loud.

Seamus smiles at her innocently as he rubs his shin "What?"

Aurelia glares at him, this little Irish bitch.

"So . . . Uh, who do you think's gonna win the cup?" Dean asks, hoping to defuse the tension that had seemingly come out of nowhere.

"The Irish!" Seamus answers without hesitation, beaming with pride.

"The Bulgarians!" Aurelia says just to spite him.

He turns to glare at her and she smiles innocently at him. The others groan as they begin to bicker, this continues until they reach Hogsmeade Station.

They climb out of the carriage, Aurelia pats the Thestral much to everyone else's confusion.

Neville can see them but he doesn't understand how she can stomach to touch one, the others have no idea what she's doing as they can't see the Thestrals.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?" Seamus asks.

Aurelia looks him dead in the eye and replies: "I'm petting the air, of course!"

Seamus gapes at her than looks to Neville for an explanation. He decides not to give Seamus one, simply saying: "You heard her."

As they climb onto the Hogwarts Express, Olivia grabs onto her "We've got a Quidditch Team meeting. Remember, Ced and the team want to discuss next year's game plan." she reminds Aurelia

"I think you mean Cedric wants to have a meeting." Aurelia groans, rolling her eyes.

The two girls are part of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, Aurelia joined as a Keeper in her second year and Olivia joined as a Beater this year.

Aurelia's now the Seeker of the team, when Cedric became the captain he decided that Aurelia made a far better Seeker than he did so appointed her the new Seeker and he became the Keeper. He had said that she's much better at being Seeker than he was since she had always spotted the Snitch before anyone else. Her fantastic eyesight and quick reflexes fit the bill of a decent Seeker.

Though, Aurelia thinks Cedric mostly made her Seeker because he had grown tired of her screaming "nine o' clock" or "seven o' clock" when she spotted the Snitch during the games or practice.

"The school year's over! Surely, he could've waited until September to do this!" Aurelia says.

"That's what I told him the other day but the stubborn twat insisted we do it now." Olivia replies.

Aurelia groans again then looks over her shoulder, calling out: "We'll be back soon, save us a seat, will you?!"

Neville nods, smiling.

"Yeah, we'll save Newton a seat!" Seamus exclaims.

"Fuck you, you little wanker!"

"Why must you tease her like this?" Neville sighs.

"Because it's fun." Seamus replies, grinning.

Both Dean and Neville roll their eyes.

* * *

After an hour of listening Cedric go over some game plans for the next Quidditch seasons, it seemed that Heidi Macavoy had enough of it as she shoves a Chocolate Frog into his mouth.

"Oi, we get it! We need to win! Now for the love of Merlin's glorious beard please let us go and enjoy our train ride home!" Heidi exclaims, fully prepared to shove another Chocolate Frog in Cedric's mouth if she had to.

"Fine, fine." Cedric grumbles though it's muffled by the Chocolate Frog.

A huge sigh of relief sweeps through the compartment and they waste no time in making a break for it.

Aurelia and Olivia are the first to leave the compartment knowing full well that if he swallows enough of that Chocolate Frog in order to form a coherent sentence he'll call the meeting back on.

Cedric pokes his head out of the compartment and the two girls groan.

"Please for the love of God, don't call us back!" Olivia pleads.

"Make sure you practice, Blue, you've got all summer and no excuses not to!" Cedric yells, at least that's what Aurelia thinks he yells, she can't really understand him because he's all but choking on a Chocolate Frog.

"Yeah, yeah I will." Aurelia replies, waving him off.

Aurelia's going to spend most her summer playing Quidditch with Elliot, it's not like she's got to worry about Muggles spotting her or anything. There's no Muggles on Almerry Island, no Muggle has ever been able to map Almerry because of the charms hiding it. Aurelia's read all about the history Almerry Island and only five Muggles have found the island and only one of them lived to tell the tale but no one believed them so Almerry remains hidden.

As the two girls venture down the corridor looking for their friends, Olivia nudges Aurelia's shoulder.

Sooo . . ." Olivia says in a teasing tone, a sly grin on her face.

"What are you on about now?" Aurelia asks, giving Olivia an odd look.

Olivia's grin only gets wider "You mean to say you haven't noticed Neville's odd behaviour around you?"

"He's been acting odd?" Aurelia questions, her tone laced with concern and anxiousness.

"Not like that, you concerned bird!" Olivia laughs, nudging Aurelia's shoulder again.

"Then what do you mean?" Aurelia asks, chewing on her lower lip.

"I mean, I think he very obviously likes you."

Aurelia panics, the thought of Neville actually like-liking her is just so far-fetched. He can't possibly like her as more than a friend — on most days, Aurelia thinks it's a miracle he's even her friend — especially since she looks the way that she does. Aurelia knows she's far from being ugly, in fact, minus the scars she likes to think she's rather pretty but she looks painstakingly like her aunt. The same bloody aunt who tortured Neville's parents.

"O' course he likes me! After all, we're best friends!" Aurelia says quickly, trying her best to brush off the subject.

Olivia gives her a blank look "You can't be serious, Blue."

"O' course I can't be Sirius, he's my cousin!" Aurelia counters, picking up her pace.

"That's not what I meant, you twat! I meant Neville like-likes you! His feelings for you are more than . . . Plantonic."

Aurelia turns to look at Olivia with wide brown eyes.

"Yeah, that's right! Two can play that game, Blue!" Olivia teases and Aurelia rolls her eyes.

As much as she'd like Neville to have a crush on her, she knows that will never, ever happen. He can do so much better than her, he deserves better than her. Not to mention, Aurelia's not sure if she really fancies him or not, she still very much fancies Hermione Granger and she can't tell who she likes more. The most important thing to Aurelia is finding out who she fancies more before she admits her crush.

"You like Neville . . . Don't you?" Olivia questions.

Aurelia's face starts to burn and she tries her best to use her Metamorphmagus abilities to hide her blushing face.

"What makes you say that?" Aurelia asks cooly.

"Well you get all blushy and smiley around him. You stutter and you always hold his hand." Olivia replies.

"We've always held hands." Aurelia defends.

"Okay, okay . . . But, what about the other things?"

"What about them?"

"Good God, Blue! Do you like Neville or not?!"

Aurelia shrugs, trying to reply as calmly as possible "M'not sure, but I'll be sure to let you know when I figure it out!" she gives her friend a sickly sweet smile.

Luckily, Aurelia finds the compartment their friends are sitting in before Olivia can subject her to more prying questions.

It seems that Hannah's joined them, Auerelia's surprised to see her there as the blonde had been rather distant the past few months.

Hannah sits between Nat and Neville, talking excitedly about something to the latter. She's extremely close to Neville, her hand's rested on his shoulder as she chats away.

The bitter feeling of jealousy takes ahold of Aurelia. Her hair turns dark green as she stares at Hannah and Neville.

 _Hannah's much better, much prettier_.

Aurelia frowns, taking a seat next to Neville. Immediately he turns his attention to Aurelia, asking: "Hey, Ari, how'd it go?"

Aurelia tears her gaze away from Hannah who looks more than annoyed by the fact Neville has turned away from her.

"It was boring . . . But, I'm certainly glad that Ced's nowhere near as brutal as Oliver." Aurelia replies, "Has the trolley been by yet?"

"Yeah." Neville says.

"Aw, fuck." Aurelia groans.

Seamus laughs "As if Lover Boy wouldn't buy a Chocolate Frog for his precious girlfriend."

"Actually, I bought three." Neville says, neither denying the title 'Lover Boy' or the title of Aurelia being his precious girlfriend, his face is bright red as he hands Aurelia one of the Chocolate Frogs.

She doesn't take it as eagerly as he expects her too, Aurelia loves Chocolate Frogs, she loves anything that's chocolate and usually she gets excited when someone gives her some but she doesn't this time.

Neville peers at her, she's biting her lower lip which bright pink colour that contrasts greatly against her pale, heavily freckled face.

Aurelia's pretty like really pretty. Neville thinks she's the prettiest girl he's ever seen. Her crooked smile is blinding, her blue eyes remind him of the sky, her button nose is so bloody cute especially when it gets all scrunched up when she tries to concentrate, and then there's her laugh.

 _Merlin_!

Her bloody laugh!

It's nothing like people expect, — like he expected — it's not evil, it's not like the Muggle movie Lyra made him watch with that green, crazy witch who wanted that dog and ruby shoes. That movie gave him nightmares for weeks. No, her laugh is nice, it's soft, and sometimes it sounds like chimes.

Her laugh gives him butterflies.

Plant Boy, you alright there?" Aurelia asks, nudging his shoulder which distracts him from his thoughts.

"Yeah — yeah, why are you asking?" He stammers.

"You've been staring at me for almost five minutes now." Aurelia says.

He turns bright red.

"Are. . . Are you mad at me?" She asks quietly.

Why in Merlin's name would he be mad at her?!

However, instead of reassuring her that he's not mad, he just yells: "YOU'RE REALLY PRETTY!"

Everyone turns to look at Neville, the half-eaten Chocolate Frog falls from her hand.

 _He called you pretty! Not just pretty, he called you really pretty_!

She turns as red as he is, smiling sheepishly as she giggles out a "Thank you!"

Hannah frowns, jumping up from her seat "I just remembered I promised Suse I'd sit with her!" she exclaims then quickly leaves the compartment, earning an eye roll from Olivia and a sad sigh from Nat.

Seamus smirks at Neville who internally groans; he's never gonna live this down.

Dean saves the day by pinching Seamus' arm, muttering: "Don't you dare!"

"Fine! Only because you asked so nicely." Seamus hisses sarcastically, rubbing his arm.

Aurelia smooths out her sunflower-print sundress with shaky hands, trying her best to remain calm.

 _He thinks you're pretty! Holy fuck, this must be a dream!_ She internally screams _, Neville thinks you're pretty and why does that make me so excited? Oh, Merlin, I DO have a crush on him! Bloody hell_!

She's got a crush on Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger, sweet Merlin, she's a mess. To make matters worse, she's never had the best track record with crushes. Her first crush, when she was five, was little seven-year-old, Daniel Roseburke, ran from her. Literally ran from her, and he ran screaming. Aurelia's crushes either end badly, go away within days, or remain unrequited. She's not good with crushes or love.

Aurelia grabs his hand and smiles at him "I think you're pretty too."

She cringes, _who the fuck calls a boy 'pretty'? You're supposed to call them cute, handsome, or hot_.

Aurelia's positively stupid with love.

Neville smiles brightly but squirms sheepishly in his seat "Th — th — thanks."

Seamus gives Dean a pleading look but Dean shakes his head and whispers: "No, leave them alone."

Seamus sighs dramatically but says nothing.

"Wow, I sure do love your totally 'plantonic' relationship." Olivia laughs, grinning widely.

Seamus gapes at Olivia. He's the one who teases Aurelia and Neville, that's his job.

"Did she just —" Neville begins to ask but Aurelia places her free hand over his mouth and shakes her head.

"Don't question her, it'll only fuel her." Aurelia whispers, glancing at Olivia who looks very proud of herself.

"It's not even funny, I've heard better puns." Seamus huffs.

"It's kind of funny." Dean says, grinning.

"It's really funny." Neville giggles, he really wishes their relationship is more than platonic.

"You're the worst, Liv." Aurelia tells her, though she's smiling.

"Correction: I'm the best." Olivia replies, smiling smugly.

"That's debatable." Aurelia says teasingly.

Olivia gasps offended "You wound me, Blue, deeply wound me."

Aurelia smiles at Olivia, batting her thick eyelashes "You love me anyway."

"I suppose." Olivia drawls out, "But only because of your killer jawline."

"That's not the only killer thing, Black, has." Seamus pipes in.

Aurelia's smile turns into a scowl "Fuck you, Finnigan!"

"I'm flattered but you're not really my — OW! What the fuck! Neville, control your girl!"

Seamus, as usual, is only joking and on most occasions Aurelia'll joke back but today isn't one of those occasions.

He crossed the line. It's bound to happen with how often the two tease each other.

Seamus frowns guiltily as Aurelia gets up from her seat and leaves the compartment.

Neville goes to follow after her but Nat stops him, telling him: "Leave her, Neville . . . It's best you give her some space."

* * *

Aurelia hugs herself as she walks quickly down the train corridor. She glances in the compartment as she passes them, looking for her older cousin, Elliot Burke.

She curses herself for letting Seamus' comment get to her especially since he had only been joking. Normally his comments don't upset her this badly. However, recently any comment about her family has been really tearing her down, it's even worse for her when the comments are made around Neville.

She's afraid that one day Neville's gonna realise just how much she looks like her Aunt Bellatrix and decide that he doesn't want to be friends with her anymore.

Aurelia hasn't had the best year, starting off with her being attacked by a Dementor at the beginning of the year. That alone is rather traumatising but the attack had resurfaced more memories of her Aunt Bellatrix.

She's got a brilliant memory, a Muggle doctor had told she has Hyperthymesia which allows her to remember a lot and remember them in vivid detail. And, Merlin, does she remember her aunt in vivid detail.

Aurelia reckons that having Hyperthymesia can be useful when it comes to school work but it's not useful when she actually — despite what her mum and dad had told her — spent a lot of her babyhood with a deranged Death-Eater. Let's not forget the fact she had been attacked by a werewolf, she'd like to forget that but she can't forget that, she can't forget a lot of things.

She can't forget the fact that Bellatrix would sing her to sleep, she can't forget the fact that Bellatrix saved her from Gwendoline Goyle, thought she can't recall what exactly Gwendoline had tried to do to her, she can't forget the fact that Bellatrix gave her more love than her parents or the fact Bellatrix tortured Joseph MacDonald right in front of her.

Aurelia remembers a lot of good things about her aunt, of course, she knows very well that her aunt's a very bad person and she's grown to hate her but she can recall a time she absolutely adored the woman. She wishes she can forget that time, forget the time when she had been just a wee toddler waddling about Malfoy Manor asking for her aunt though the woman had been absent for quite some time.

This sometimes made it awkward for Aurelia to be around Neville on some occasions, even he's got no idea that remembers Bellatrix that well. She's too afraid to tell him at this point. That would require telling him about that phase she went through when she was three where she had called Bellatrix 'mama' for weeks on end until her mum had snapped at her to never call her that again or else she'd regret it — she really wishes she can forget that. Aurelia'd much rather tell him about the ugly scars on her face.

The Dementor attack had also triggered some memories of her cousin, Sirius, but she doesn't understand where those memories came from because she knows for certain she's never met him. Either, her parents lied to her or she's making things up.

Finally, she comes across the compartment where Elliot sits along with Fred, George, and Lee.

"Hey, Blue!" Lee greets her cheerily as she slips into the compartment.

"Hello." She says softly.

George's resting his head on Elliot's lap and is taking up most of the seat so Aurelia plops down on his stomach.

He groans in pain but makes no move to push her off "You could've at least given me a bloody warning, Blue!"

Elliot pokes his nose "What's the fun in that?"

Fred stares at Aurelia, he can tell something's wrong, she's not laughing at George.

"You alright?" Fred wonders.

She shakes her head, pouting.

"What's wrong?" Lee asks.

"Finnigan." Aurelia mumbles.

The four boys share knowing looks, they shouldn't have expected any differently.

Elliot frowns, the Irish Gryffindor probably brought up their family's less than honourable reputation. He knows exactly how she feels being not only the son and dead ringer of Regulus Black but the son of Callisto Burke a notorious Death-Eater that's so loyal to the Dark Lord she tried giving the Dark-Mark to Elliot when he was only a year old. There's a half-finished Dark-Mark on his wrist and it only adds to the rumours surrounding him.

"I hate our family." Aurelia tells Elliot, who laughs.

"I know. You tell me this all the time!"

"I'll say it until the day I die." Aurelia grumbles.

"And then you'll come back as a ghost keep saying it for all eternity." Lee jokes.

"You bet your ass I will!" She says determinedly.

* * *

Aurelia stays the rest of the train ride with them, though she had planned to return to her friends but she lost track of time talking and joking around with the four boys.

As the train comes to a stop at Platform 9 and 3\4, Aurelia leaves the compartment hastily in search of her friends.

"Tell mum or Auntie Andy, whichever one is out there that I'm goin' to Georgie's house for the night!" Elliot calls after her.

"M'kay, Ellie, see you tomorrow then!" Aurelia replies absentmindedly as she walks quickly down the train corridor.

"Excuse me." Aurelia mumbles repeatedly, making her way through a group of Ravenclaws and Gryffindors.

Amongst them are Nat's older and younger siblings, Heather and Samuel. The next thing you know she's been tripped and she hears Heather snicker.

Samuel scolds her but she only snickers louder.

Cho Chang helps her up "Are you alright there?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Aurelia says, smiling politely at Cho. Her palms are stinging like a bitch.

"Well, have a good summer then, Aurelia!"

"You too!" Aurelia says cheerily and she continues to look for her friends.

However, they find her first.

Seamus grabs her from behind and she lets out a terrified screech as she tries to escape his grasp.

Panic wells in her chest and she feels her throat constrict.

 _No_ , she tells herself firmly, not here, _not now_. There were too many people, to many sounds — _no, they're sounds of children not owls and branches_ , _you're not there. You're not there. You're_ —

"You alright there Black? It's only me... It's just Seamus." He speaks softly.

 _See, you're not in the forest_ , Aurelia tells herself, grabbing at the hem of her dress, she takes in its smooth texture. It's not that scratchy, wool cloak.

"Uh, I'm sorry about earlier, I was only joking." Seamus apologises.

"Yeah I — I know."

"Well, now that's settled: hey Lover Boy, I found your lass!" Seamus calls out, surprisingly she doesn't curse or hit him for calling Neville that.

She's looking around nervously and she kind of reminds him of that weird, old World-War II veteran that lives down the street from him.

Neville sighs as he hears Seamus call him, will he ever stop calling me that? He half-expects him to be joking when he turns to look, but he's not; Aurelia's standing beside him.

"Ari, there you are! You had me worried there, I thought you might be mad at us, mad at me . . . I wanted to go after you but Wilkes told me not to."

"I'm not mad at you. . . Or any of you." She says quietly.

"Are you alright?" He asks.

"Yeah, I — I'm fine . . . I'm just tired."

Neville looks at her skeptically then hold out his hand for him to hold, she grabs it and threads her fingers through his.

They say their goodbyes to their friends and head of the train. There's a lot of people on the platform so Neville and Aurelia head out to King Cross' Station where his grandmother and Mae are waiting.

Neville asks if Mae is picking her up tonight but accidentally refers to Mae as her mum and then gets really flustered.

"You know you can just call her my mum . . . I mean, she's more of a mum to me than my actual mum." Aurelia tells him, "Mae's not technically my mum though, since she hasn't legally adopted me. . . She's adopted Elliot though." the last sentence comes out sadder than she means it to.

This happens every time someone questions what Mae is to her. It makes her wonder why Mae hasn't adopted her yet, it's been almost three years since she took her in and Mae adopted Elliot a year after he came into her care. Aurelia wonders if Mae doesn't want to adopt her.

"I thought she already adopted her when she took you in?"

"Not legally."

"What's the difference?"

"Trust me, there's a difference." Aurelia mumbles.

"I trust you." Neville says, without missing a beat.

She goes to tell him that she didn't mean it like that but as they lock eyes, she finds herself speechless.

He's staring at her so intently it's like his hazel eyes are peering into her soul. The butterflies in her stomach are fluttering around harder than how she dances to _Honey, Honey_ by _Abba_.

"NEVILLE!" Neville's grandmother, Augusta Longbottom yells out.

They look to the elderly woman, Aurelia waves to her, smiling politely. She gets a curt nod in response which is far better than last year's response.

"Well, goodbye the, Ari, I'll miss you."

"Aw, I'll miss you too, Plant Boy!" Aurelia says, smiling teasingly.

Neville grins and goes to say something but Augusta calls for him again.

Aurelia hugs him which surprises him because usually he's the one who to hug first. He hugs her back tightly, his heart hammering in his chest.

They pull away, both blushing like mad. Neville glances at his grandmother to see that she's been distracted by Aurelia's aunt, Andromeda Tonks, which means they have a few more minutes together.

"Are you sure you can't come with us?" Aurelia asks, referring to the Quidditch World Cup.

"I'm sure."

She pouts "Well, fuck! It's going to be positively boring without you there, Plant Boy!"

His heart feels like it's going to burst.

"It's the World Cup, I can't see it being boring under any circumstances!" Neville says, giggling.

"Well, it can be if the circumstances include you not being there." Aurelia says, her hair turns pink as she stares down at him.

Neville's breath catches in his throat. He could kiss her right there and now, her lips look so soft, he could kiss her, he could do it —

"Lia, love, we need to get going . . . I've got cookies that need to be baked!" Andromeda calls out.

Aurelia's eyes light up "Ooh, cookies! Well, I gotta go, Plant Boy, I love you, b —"

They both froze.

"What?" Neville gasps.

Her nose scrunches up as she gives him a confused look "I said . . . I love you."

He swallows thickly, he's speechless, Aurelia studies his expression. It's not bad but it's not good either.

She punches his shoulder playfully, laughing loudly "Ye know that! Yer like my best friend, o' course, I love ye!"

Neville laughs hollowly as Aurelia starts backing away from him.

"Goodbye, Plant Boy!" Aurelia says, giving him finger guns — _what the fuck, Blue, fingers guns, really_?!

He smiles softly at her, mumbling: "Bye, Sunflower Girl."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Bellatrix Lestrange sounds out of character right now but keep in mind these are Aurelia's memories of her, memories from when she was only a little baby so she may not be out of character it just may be how Aurelia sees her, who know. . . Guess we'll just have to wait and see! Okay so I need your help what's the best ship name for Aurelia and Neville because I can't decide lmao:
> 
> Nevillia
> 
> Nevari
> 
> Nevurelia
> 
> Aureville
> 
> BlackBottom (uhhh I got this idea after Neisha jokingly suggested Gold Booty also it reminds me of Bikini Bottom and I can't breathe lmao)
> 
> So like go ahead and pick y'all. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, thanks for reading, please let me know what you thought of it


	5. | III: ❝Ghosts of Almerry❞

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! Updates will still be very scarce but I really wanted to update because James and Lily's death day anniversary and I busted my ass off typing this up. Please be very aware they'll be lots of typos because my keyboard is still broken and some letters might be missing, so kindly point them out if you want and I will fix them when I can! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the chapter, please leave a review letting me know what you thought of it!

**CHAPTER iii** ** _!_**  
Ghosts of Almerry

* * *

 

" **YOU WHAT**?" **NYM SCREAMS** , **SPRAYING BITS OF** chocolate chip cookie everywhere.

Andromeda sighs exasperatedly at her daughter's behaviour, Ted, on the other hand, laughs loudly.

Aurelia nods her head, shrugging "Yeah . . . I don't know why I said it though."

Nym rolls her eyes "Well, if you love the bloke you ought to tell him eventually. Better sooner than later, don't ya think?"

"First of all, I don't love-love him so there's nothing to tell him . . . I just meant it in a more than friendly way." Aurelia mumbles, "Second of all, you've nearly blinded me with a bloody chocolate chip, I hope you're happy with yourself."

"I've never been happier." She replies, giving Aurelia a shit-eating grin.

Aurelia sticks her tongue out at her cousin than pops a piece of raw cookie dough in her mouth.

"Aurelia Alice!" Andromeda says in a scolding tone.

"Yeah, yeah . . . I know, I know 'cookie dough is bad for you and I like to destroy the good things in your life!' I know, you tell me every time we make cookies."

"And do you ever listen?"

"Nope." Aurelia replies, smiling.

Andromeda shakes her head, smiling fondly though she tries to hide it.

"So, Lia, how do you think you did on your exams?" Ted asks.

"Quite well." She replies.

"Even Potions?" Nym questions teasingly.

"Yeah, even Potions." Aurelia sighs.

The thing is, Aurelia's not bad at Potions, in fact it's one of her best subject. It's just that the professor doesn't like her and he makes it known during class, leaving her filled with anxiety and rage, he also doesn't like giving her the grade she deserves.

"Is Snape still giving you a hard time?" Andromeda wonders and Aurelia nods in response.

Professor Snape's always giving her a hard time and Aurelia'll admit on occasion she's given him a hard time right back. He deserves it though, with how he treats Neville and Harry.

Andromeda mutters a very harsh insult towards the professor under her breath that Aurelia pretends she doesn't hear thought she wants to laugh. It may be harsh but it's true.

Her Uncle Ted glances at the clock on the wall "Mae's running late today."

Andromeda glances at the clock as well and frowns "You're right, she is."

"Should we be worried?" Nym asks jokingly.

Ted catches the look of panic that flashes across Aurelia's face and for her sake, he shakes his head.

"No, of course not! We just mean she's been gone longer than she told us that she'd be. Andy and I talked to her this morning and she had said she wouldn't be too long. She must've lost track of time."

"She'll probably be back in time for dinner." Andromeda says.

Aurelia licks her lips nervously, Mae isn't the most punctual person so it's not unusual for her to be late.

"Speaking of dinner! I convinced mum to make Yorkshire Pudding!" Nym announces, grinning.

"Convinced? Ha, more like you kept asking and I only did it to shut you up." Andromeda snorts, laughing.

Nym shrugs, replying: "Is there a difference?"

Aurelia tries to her best to keep her hair from turning dark green. The relationship between her Aunt Andromeda and Nym never fails to make her jealous, she longs for what they have.

Andromeda loves Nym through and through, there's no doubt about it.

She could see that perfectly clearly from the moment she had first met the Tonks when she was just three-years-old.

Aurelia remembers that it had the way that Andromeda had looked at Nym that had made her start calling Aunt Bellatrix her 'mama'. The look had the same amount of devotion and love and it had convinced her that Bellatrix had to be her mum if she looked down at her in the same way Andromeda looked at Nym.

Her mum never looked at her that way.

Aurelia knows now that made absolutely no sense whatsoever but at the time her three-year-old self had thought it made perfect sense.

Her mum's not a bad mum, not by a long shot. She's only ever put a hand on her once but she instantly regretted and apologised profusely, her mum's great but she doesn't love her. Not like she loves Draco, Aurelia's always been second-best and it had been obvious.

Neither of her parents loved her like they love Draco, they never fought for her when she chose to move in with Maeve. They had been willing to just let her waltz out that door like she meant nothing to them, Draco fought more than either of them and it had almost been enough to make her stay.

But after months of knowing what it was like to be accepted by people, Aurelia couldn't just go back to being the outcast, she had been one before the Sorting and it got worse after it, Aurelia just couldn't handle it anymore, she couldn't handle the way her parents looked at her during Christmas holiday. Maeve offered her a home and Aurelia took it.

The only regret Aurelia has is leaving Draco behind but it's not as though he would've actually went with her when she had asked.

"Lia?" Ted calls, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Huh?"

He chuckles "I asked if anything exciting happened this year?"

"Oh," Aurelia blinks, "Well, I wouldn't describe it as exciting but I got attacked by a Dementor on the train."

Ted's eyes widen in horror, Andromeda nearly drops the cookie-tray, and Nym laughs loudly.

"I love how nonchalantly you say that, Lia! 'Oh, I almost got my soul sucked out of my body but no biggie!' Merlin's beard, you're too much!"

"That was the worst Scottish accent I've ever heard, try again, love. And, after being attacked by a werewolf that was a nice, peaceful walk in the park." Aurelia counters dryly.

"You're telling me you weren't afraid of a bloody Dementor?!"

"Of course, I was right terrified! I nearly bloody well shit myself." Aurelia says with a scoff, "But . . . Mostly because it reminded me of Joseph MacDonald and the werewolf."

"Joseph MacDonald." Nym echoes, frowning as she turns to her parents and asks: "Isn't he the one that Bellatrix killed? She got charged for that, didn't she?"

Andromeda grows tense as she sets the cookie-tray down of the table "Nearly, it was June of 1981 when that happened . . . It wasn't too long after Lia's first birthday, I remember that but nothing happened, she went on trial . . . She got off because they determined that she killed him in self-defense and they never found her Dark-Mark so they had no choice but to let her go . . . How — How do you even remember that, you were so young."

"Lia remembers everything, it's a gift." Nym says, she can't count how many times Aurelia's keen memory has saved her ass.

"It's a curse more like it, Aurelia thinks bitterly.

"I don't remember everything . . . Only bits and pieces." Aurelia replies.

She can remember it vividly too, she can remember the fact that Bellatrix had thought she was sleeping, she can remember Joseph begging for mercy, she can remember the flash of green light that ceased his screams, and she can remember that Joseph mentioned Professor Lupin.

"He mentioned . . . Remus Lupin . . . The DADA professor just this past year, he told her that if she let him go he promised he wouldn't tell him . . . Do you have any idea what he meant by that?"

Andromeda looks at her, confused "I've got no idea what you're talking about, honestly . . . I had no idea either of them knew who Remus was . . . I — oh!"

Aurelia nods, frowning. Professor Lupin had given her a similar response when she had asked him about it. "Oh, okay." She mumbles.

Nym nudges her "Don't think too much about it, Lia, it's probably nothing. Or it was just your brain filling in gaps with different information, perhaps he had said a different name you can't remember and you filled it in with the first name you could think of. That's happened before, hasn't it?"

She's right, it has; so, Aurelia nods her head and grabs another cookie to nibble on.

"Anything good happen this year?" Ted asks, rephrasing his earlier question.

"Well, I won against Harry Potter! Wait . . . No, that's not a good thing since he was being attacked by Dementors while I caught the Snitch." Aurelia sighs, slumping in her seat.

The Tonks stare at her with bewildered expressions.

Aurelia sits up suddenly, exclaiming: "Oh! I produced a Patronus! That's a good thing!" She says excitedly to her uncle, thinking of the little Hummingbird she had managed to produce.

"Really?!" Nym asks, looking mildly impressed, "That's really advanced logic for someone your age!"

Nym says that as though she's never seen any of the spells, Aurelia's created — the ones that bloody work that is.

"Yep!" Aurelia replies, nodding.

"Well, don't leave us hanging?!" Ted says to Aurelia, "What form did it take?!"

"A hummingbird." Aurelia answers, grinning proudly.

"Hmmm, not what I was expecting but, I suppose it's fitting." Andromeda hums.

"I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't a mockingbird." Aurelia complains playfully.

Nym rolls her eyes "Giving you that book was the biggest mistake I've ever made."

"Even bigger than your failed attempts at asking out, Charlie?" Aurelia counters.

Nym's hair turns bright red and Aurelia jumps up from the table, running out of the kitchen.

Nym chases after her, yelling: Get back here, you little twat!"

"Not a chance!" She calls back.

Andromeda and Ted share tired and amused looks.

* * *

Mae doesn't arrive at the Tonks until the next day. Just after two in the morning Mae knocks on the front door of their house.

Andromeda's the only one awake in the house, she had stayed up late to await the return of Mae, she wastes no time in answering the door and ushering the shivering redhead inside.

"You need to stop doing this, Mae." She scolds her.

Mae shakes her head stubbornly "Ye could give me a million reasons to stop and I still wouldn't . . . Ye four are my responsibility —"

"Mae?" A small, tired voice calls out.

"Or I could just give you one." Andromeda mutters as she watches Mae's stubborn expressions melt away.

Quiet footsteps cross the living room and Aurelia's head pokes out into the small foyer, she blinks tiredly as she stares at the two woman. Mae laughs softly as she takes in Aurelia's sleepy appearance, her hair's sticking in all different direction and her clothes are all wrinkled.

"Mae, you came — you're here."

"Yes, I am. I'm sorry I'm so late, I didn't expect to be that long, wee moon, I lost track of time." Mae apologises.

Aurelia's just glad, she came back especially after having a terrible dream that Mae and Elliot decided they didn't want her anymore and sent her back to the Malfoys.

As Mae smiles lovingly at her, she realises that the dream will never happen, Mae loves her and so does Elliot. They would never send her back.

"Would ye like to come back to Almerry with me or would ye like to stay here for the rest of the night?" Mae asks.

"I wanna go with you." Aurelia mumbles sleepily.

"Are ye sure, y'know it's a bumpy drive up to Almerry Castle from Travis' Inn." Mae says.

Aurelia nods quickly "O' course I know! I've been living with you for three years now, I know it's bumpy but that's okay! I wanna go with you!" Aurelia exclaims.

"Well, if that's what ye want, wee moon, go get yer things then." Mae tells her, smiling softly.

Aurelia nods, stumbling back into the living room to gather her trunk and Freddie.

"Are you sure you're alright, Mae?" Andromeda whispers.

Mae nods "I'll be fine, dear . . . I assume Ellie went to Molly's?"

Andromeda isn't at all thrilled by the change of subject but nods nevertheless "It'd be more surprising if he was here, wouldn't it?"

"Yer right, a cow would jump over the moon before that boy misses a chance to hang out with George and that boy thinks he's slick." Mae laughs with a shake of her head, "And he thinks he's slick."

"Mae, did she —" Andromeda begins to ask, the look on her face reminds Mae of a frightened child.

Mae shakes her head "No, she just talked and asked about Aurelia . . . As she always does, it's always been about Aurelia —"

"What about me?" Aurelia questions, entering the foyer again this time with her things.

Both women froze, Mae eyes her weirdly.

"We were just discussing yer academics! Meda was just telling me that ye did very well this year. Not that I'm surprised, ye do well every year."

"Oh." Aurelia mumbles, no longer looking interested in their conversation as she believes that it's about school.

"Are ye ready, wee moon?" Mae asks.

"I'm r — r — r — ready." Aurelia replies, yawning.

"Mind if we use yer fireplace, Meda?"

"No, not at all." Andromeda says, going to set up the Floo Network.

Once that's done, Andromeda kisses them both on the cheek and insists that the come over next week for dinner.

Aurelia grabs a handful of Floo Powder and yells: "Almerry Inn!"

She comes out of the fireplace of Almerry Inn, the pub is rather busy despite the time but it's quiet. At the very back of the pub area is Travis Calderwood who looks to be sleeping.

Mae follows shortly after "My car's just outside, wee moon."

Aurelia nods and drags her things outside of the inn, she spots Mae's car, a yellow 1972 _Volkswagen Super Beetle_ , at the very end of the street.

"Did you really have to park way down there?" Aurelia groans, her Scottish accent is thicker in her sleepy state.

"I wasn't thinkin' when I left this mornin'! Forgive me!" Maeve replies, her tone full of sass.

Aurelia's eyes widen although they want nothing more than to close.

"You've been gone all day?! Merlin, what have you been up to?!"

"Nothin'." Mae says shortly, growing tense.

Aurelia fears that she's upset Mae. She didn't mean to, she hadn't asked the question expecting answer, she had only asked it as a joke, to emphasise that Mae's been gone a long time, doing whatever she's been doing. Aurelia really hadn't meant to upset her.

She chews on her lower lip as they approach their car, she glances at Mae to see that she's still tense.

"I'm sorry!" Aurelia blurts out.

Mae looks up, the car keys jingle in her hand as her surprised expression turns to one of confusion "Sorry for what, wee moon?"

"For prying . . . What you do is none of my business." Aurelia mumbles.

"You were hardly pryin', wee moon, you've got nothing to apologise for." Mae tells her.

"Okay." Aurelia mumbles though she still feels as though Maeve's upset with her.

Mae helps her put her trunk in the backseat along with her cat crate, Freddie's not at all thrilled by this, he doesn't like cars and he doesn't like cages, he prefers walking or shoulders for transportation.

Freddie mewls loudly.

"Oh, stop complaining, Freddie!" Aurelia scolds, "It's only gonna be thirty minute drive."

"But, it's a bumpy one." Mae chimes in.

"Shhh, don't tell him that!"

Mae rolls her eyes playfully "Ye know he can't understand ye, wee moon, he's just a cat!"

"You never know . . . Professor McGonagall seems to understand Freddie just fine . . . But, I don't think they like each other very much. I was looking for him once and I found him in front of McGonagall's office and she seemed to be arguing with him, she said that his name was dumb after he had apparently insulted her name."

"Well, she's not exactly wrong." Mae snorts.

"Freddie's name's not dumb!" Aurelia gasps.

"His full name is."

"His full name is pure brilliance!"

"Sure, wee moon." Mae says sarcastically, giving Aurelia a judgemental look.

"It is!" Aurelia insists, getting into the passenger's seat.

Mae smiles as she gets into the driver's seat and turns the car on. "If ye say so." She hums.

"You're so mean to me!" Aurelia teases.

Mae only laughs as she turns the car around and heads to Almerry Castle.

The castle sits upon the highest hill on Almerry Island and as far as the locals know, it's been abandoned since Bellatrix Lestrange went to Azkaban. They think that Mae, Elliot, and Aurelia live in the small two-story house at the base of the hill. While they owned that house, they didn't live in it, unless they invited Travis and Lillian Calderwood over for dinner.

Almerry Castle hadn't always belonged to Aurelia's family. Seven centuries ago when the Almerrys founded the island, it had belonged to them. They were the royals of the island but they were dethroned — Aurelia's not being dramatic! She swears, this is the actual word they used in the history book of Almerry — by the Blacks three centuries after finding the Island. All the Almerry killed in a very bloody duel by the Blacks.

No one minded their deaths, most of the people on the island at the time thought that the Blacks were heroes for what they had done. The Almerry were terrible, brutal people that made the Black family look like saints. Almerry Castle used to be filled with tortured souls that were slaughtered by the Almerrys for fun, those souls have long been released from the Castle and now only two remain. The ghosts of the youngest Almerry Children, eight-year-old Anne-Marie and six-year-old Alexander. They were allowed to stay on the condition that they'd be good and to this day they remained much to Elliot and Aurelia's dismay.

Since Aurelia's family had taken over Almerry Island, the castle has been passed down from generation to generation. Her grandparents had used it as a summer vacation get away instead of a permanent residence. Her mother had told her many stories of her summer vacations at the castle, she had adored that place but it had been given to Bellatrix.

Her mum's still bitter about that.

When her aunt had married Rodolphus Lestrange, Grandpa Cygnus had given the summer home to Bellatrix as a 'wedding present' but mum had told Aurelia that it was supposed to be a getaway for her.

Then Bellatrix went Azkaban and she had given the castle to Mae ( _Mum's so bitter about that_!) which Aurelia knows raised a lot of eyebrows. Including hers. Mae's a Squib and Aunt Bellatrix's a prejudiced Pureblood bitch, so why would she give Maeve a bloody castle?

 _They were in love_ , Aurelia theorises, why else would her aunt give a whole ass castle to a Squib, someone she was taught to hate. Mae never says why Bellatrix gave her the castle then again Aurelia never asks but she knows there's got to be a bloody good reason for it.

One day she'll find out why, it'll take awhile as it's not in the Almerry Historicals. In the library there are a series of books the house automatically writes down events they find to be important, they're big books and so far there's about seven of them but Aurelia knows three of them are missing and she's got no idea where they are. One of those books has the answer to her theory.

 _One day_ , she promises herself as she leans her head against the window. She'll look for them again this summer.

Despite the road to the castle being extremely bumpy, Aurelia finds herself falling back to sleep. Mae's soft humming is lulling her to sleep as she watches the scenery pass them by in a darkened blur.

Halfway through the car ride, Mae glances over at Aurelia to find that she's fallen asleep. She smiles fondly at the sleeping child but she can't ignore the pang of sadness that erupts in her heart.

The possible 'what-if' situations are leering in her mind, tearing her apart.

* * *

Aurelia wakes up in the late afternoon to the sound of Elliot screaming along to _Bohemian Rhapsody_ at the top of his lungs — nothing unusual.

She lets out a tiny groan, she doesn't remember going to bed herself which means Mae must've carried her up her. Though, Mae's tiny, she's strong.

Aurelia guesses that's what happens when you have to work for the Blacks for three decades, you either get strong or you get killed.

Aurelia glances around the swirling yellow and blue walls of her room. Painted and enchanted to look and move exactly like Van Gogh's _Starry Night_ , her room never ceases to amaze Aurelia.

Though, _Starry Night_ is not her favourite painting by the Dutch wizard, it's the most calming one, the way Van Gogh had enchanted it to move always succeeds to keep her relaxed. When Aurelia had asked to have her room painted like the _Starry Night_ painting, Mae had been the one to get it enchanted to move, saying that it might help her calm down after a really bad nightmare, she had been right about that as it helps a lot.

Aurelia finds herself falling back asleep, her eyes glued to the walls but then —

" _OH, MAMA MIA! MAMA MIA! MAMA MIA! LET ME GO_!" Elliot shrieks and sleep is out of the question for her.

Aurelia drags herself out of bed, she's still in her clothes from yesterday, a Hufflepuff Quidditch sweater that has seen better days, a pair of slim-fitting black jeans with three small holes on the left leg, and a pair of yellow knitted socks from Molly.

Maeve's told her to get rid of the jeans multiple times now but Aurelia says "Fuck that, these pants make my legs look good." every time, then usually adds a dramatic comment to the end of that statement that makes Mae roll her eyes.

Stretching out her sore limbs, Aurelia heads to the large bathroom that's adjacent to her even larger bedroom to shower and brush her teeth since she didn't get around to doing those things last night.

Aurelia's halfway through her shower when Anne-Marie's voice calls out "That shower looks a little cold there."

"I like cold showers, Anne-Marie." Aurelia replies cooly, "Now please let me shower in peace, please and thank you."

"I wish I could bathe . . . And I say bathe because showers didn't exist when I was alive." Anne-Marie sighs dramatically.

"Proper hygiene was barely a thing when you were alive. You probably bathed twice a year." Aurelia scoffs.

"I bathed once a month thank you very much! My family were no peasants! You're getting to be as rude as your sisters these days, Andromeda!" Anne-Marie says hotly.

Aurelia sighs, _it's not her fault_ , she reminds herself. Anne-Marie's always had trouble keeping up with the Black family, messing up the names so many times. Andromeda had told her that Anne-Marie would call her and Bellatrix 'Phoebe' all the time.

Aurelia looks a lot like Phoebe Black, so does Andromeda and Bellatrix. Bellatrix happens to be the splitting image of Phoebe, except her eyes are a bright, ice blue instead of the dark grey that Phoebe had and of course Phoebe had shockingly blonde hair. Aurelia comes very close to being a spitting image and Anne-Marie sometimes calls her Phoebe but she mostly calls her 'Bellatrix' or 'Andromeda'.

She really hates that but she can live with being called 'Andromeda' so she says nothing on that matter.

"Aww, didst I hurt thy feelings?" Aurelia asks mockingly, scrubbing conditioner into her scalp.

She gets no reply meaning that Anne-Marie has left, the ghost has probably gone to find Elliot or 'Regulus' \ 'Cygnus' as she often calls him.

Anne-Marie's voice sounds from downstairs "OI, REGGIE!"

"CALL ME, REGGIE, ONE MORE TIME!"

Aurelia jumps at the harshness of Elliot's voice and almost slips out of the tub but luckily she manages to balance herself.

 _Today is going to be a long day_ , Aurelia thinks to herself as she starts rinse out her hair.

And a long day it turns out to be indeed. The makings of a long day hit her in the face the moment she enters the kitchen where she finds a seething-with-rage Elliot and a panic-stricken Mae.

"Oh, he knows, oh no, he knows!" Mae mutters as she paces the kitchen, her accent is thick with concern.

"If he even makes a joke about it or — or if they tell Aurelia, it'll all go up in smoke, oh no. It'll be somethin' terrible for her."

"Tell me what?" Aurelia asks, stepping into Mae and Elliot's sight.

Mae looks like a deer caught in the headlights and Elliot's confused expression turns into one of complete indifference.

"Nothing." He says simply.

"Nooo." Mae says, her accent getting even thicker as she glances at Elliot, "No, I'm goin' to have to tell her."

Elliot gives Mae an incredulous look "You'll tell her but not me, now that just ain't fair, maw!"

Mae ignores Elliot, turning her nervous stare on Aurelia "Ye might want to sit down for this, wee moon."

This confuses Aurelia but she does what she's told nevertheless. She takes a seat at the kitchen island and glances at Elliot, who's staring at Mae with wide grey eyes.

Aurelia looks at Mae expectantly and the older woman takes a deep breath.

"The Triwizard Tournament is comin' to Hogwarts." Mae says.

"You're joking, right?" Aurelia asks meekly.

She's got to be joking. They really can't be reviving that tournament after that long. And, Albus fucking Dumbledore can't be dumb enough to let it happen at Hogwarts, not while Harry Potter is attending.

 _That's just a bloody recipe for disaster_!

"I'm not, wee moon . . . I'm sorry." Mae says softly.

Aurelia's a huge history nerd so she's pretty much read everything there's to know about the the Triwizard Tournament. And everything about them practically terrified her, the tasks were nothing short of horrific . . . They could use werewolves, basilisks, or thunderbirds, they could use anything. It's horrifying, people have died trying to win it and they want to bring it back, _what the fuck are they thinking_? But, there's a bright side to this terrible idea.

"The Yule Ball!" Aurelia exclaims, pushing her fear of the tournament to the back of her mind, "If they're doing the tournament then that means they're doing the Yule Ball! They've got to, it's mandatory! Ooh, it'll be just like the parties mum and dad would throw! I'll get to wear a fancy dress and dance!"

"You in a fancy dress, ha! Yeah, right!" Elliot snorts.

Aurelia glares at him "Fight me, Ellie! I look fucking great in fancy dresses!"

Mae smiles "Yes, they're doin' the Yule Ball, they sent out a letter requirin' dress robes for the occasion so we'll be goin' dress shopping sometime this summer!"

Aurelia pumps her fist in the air "Yes!"

"Wonderful, I bet I'll look great in a little black dress." Elliot says sarcastically.

"Ye know I meant dress robes for ye." Mae groans but than adds in a light tone: "Unless, ye want to wear a dress?"

"I'll pass but only because that means I'd have to shave my legs."

Mae rolls her eyes while Aurelia snickers.

Elliot claps his hands together "Well, now that's settled, Lia, wanna go play a game of Quidditch!"

Aurelia nods "Of fucking course!"

* * *

She wins, of course, Elliot's a horrid seeker. He's got the worst eyesight, it wouldn't be nearly as bad if he'd wear his damn glasses.

But, Elliot's more skilled at flying than she is and she tells him so as they land in the lush gardens surrounding the castle.

She fiddles with the Snitch in her hand, giving him a dirty glare as he denies her compliment.

He shakes his long dark hair out of his face "Nah, I ain't that good." Elliot disagrees, "Y'know who's good? . . . Krum! He's great!"

"Oh my God, Ellie, just take my fucking compliment!" Aurelia exclaims, rolling her eyes.

"Never! I am far too humble for that shit!" Elliot jokes.

She jumps on his back, yelling: "Take it, you wanker!"

"Over my dead body — oh shit!" Elliot yelps, tripping over a stuck-up root.

The black cousins fall to the ground, laughing.

Aurelia pulls herself up and brushes the dirt off her clothes as though they weren't already dirty, they were the same clothes she had on yesterday as she had been too lazy to find a new outfit. She then helps Elliot up.

"You think those apples are any good?" Aurelia asks, pointing at the handful of apple trees at the far end of the gardens.

"Should be." Elliot replies, shrugging.

"Good, cause I'm starving!" Aurelia grins, heading over to them.

Elliot shakes his head, following after her.

"Y'know you could just call one of the House-Elves, they could get you something so much better than an apple." He tells her.

"I don't want to bother them." Aurelia says.

Back in the day when this castle had belonged to Grandpa Cygnus there used to be a hundred House-Elves but now there's only ten. Most had been given to Aunt Walburga and her mum but there had been a handful that refused to leave. One in particular is named Mimsie and she's Aurelia's favourite.

"Mae's literally paying them to serve us!"

"I know!" Aurelia says, "But, this apple'll do just fine for now."

"You're so weird, it's not a big deal to ask them for food!" Elliot snaps, rolling his eyes.

"I know, Ellie! God, I just don't need them right now!" Aurelia snaps right back, trying to get her point across.

Elliot Huff then calls out loudly: "Bokbey!"

Two seconds later a young, male House-Elf appears "You called Master Elliot?"

"I did indeed." Elliot says, smiling politely.

"What can Bokbey help you with, Master Elliot?"

"Can you get me some pudding and a cup o' tea?"

"Of course, Master Elliot, anything for you, Master Elliot."

"Thank you, Bokbey." Elliot says, smiling gratefully.

Within a blink of an eye the elf's gone, Aurelia rolls her eyes at Elliot, who's smiling smugly at her."

"You're a lazy ass, y'know." She scoffs.

His smug smile only widens "I pride myself on it."

Aurelia scoffs again, grabbing an apple from the tree. She sits down in the bed of yellow daffodils that surround the tree, Aurelia bites into the apple and lets herself get lost in her thoughts.

She thinks about the upcoming tournament and just how badly it might go. Her theories make her shudder, what if someone puts her name in as a joke and she gets picked — _no, don't be ridiculous, you're not worthy enough to be selected by the Goblet of Fire!_

What if someone you love enters and they get hurt or worse, killed?

Aurelia swallows thickly.

 _No_ , Aurelia reassures herself, _just because you think Dumbledore's a sketchy bitch doesn't mean he's a sketchy bitch_. He won't let a student die.

Nothing bad will happen.

"Ah, thank you, Bokbey!" Elliot exclaims dramatically.

Aurelia blinks, glancing over at Elliot. Bokbey's returned with the food Elliot asked for.

"Is that all, Master Elliot?" Bokbey asks, bowing.

"It is indeed."

Bokbey turns to Aurelia "Do you wish for anything, Mistress Aurelia?" He asks but then freezes, a look of horror on his face.

Aurelia has asked to be referred to as 'Miss. Aurelia' instead of 'Mistress Aurelia' because the latter makes her feel very uncomfortable.

The House-Elves complied, of course, but sometimes they slip up.

Bokbey falls to his knees, apologising profusely.

"It's alright! I've been called worse, Bokbey, I really don't care what you call me . . . I prefer 'miss' but if you'd rather call me 'mistress then I'm fine with that."

"Bokbey is sorry, Miss. Aurelia, please forgive, Bokbey."

"There's nothing to forgive, it was just a little slip up. No harm done, Bokbey."

Still, Bokbey sobs.

He's a newer elf so he's bit slow on the uptake but Aurelia's patience is wearing thin. She's never been a patient person, the only person she can keep up her patience with is Neville.

Can you do me a favour, Bokbey?" Aurelia sighs and Bokbey's sobs come to a halt.

"Anything for you, Miss. Aurelia!"

"Can you go help Mae with dinner, I'm sure she's already started peeling the potatoes?"

"Of course, Miss. Aurelia!" Bokbey says eagerly and with that he's gone.

Elliot gives Aurelia a weird look.

"What?" She questions.

"How did you ever get to be that nice, even I'm not that nice!" Elliot laughs as though being nice is a bad thing.

"You are too, nice!" She argues.

Yeah, to people . . . Sometimes."

"House-Elves aren't below us!"

"Are you even a Black?!"

Aurelia frowns, feeling suddenly insecure. _Great_ , Aurelia thinks, _even Ellie thinks you're a disappointment_.

"I — I didn't mean it like that." Elliot mumbles, "Look, I'm gonna be heading down to the town's square, do you want one of those chocolate Honeyzickle makes?"

That's Elliot's way of apologising, he never uses the words 'I'm sorry' unless he's upset Mae or George.

Aurelia glares at him, blinking back tears.

"Of course, you do, you never pass up chocolate . . . I'll be back in a couple hours then we can watch _Labyrinth_ or _Halloween_." Elliot says then heads up to the castle without another word.

Aurelia and Elliot don't normally fight. Elliot can have a nasty temper but it's rarely directed at her.

"Well, that was certainly intense." Alexander Almerry's ghostly-echoey voice calls down from the tree.

"Did your mother burn one your maids alive . . . For fun?"

Alexander floats down from the tree.

"Yeah . . . For fun, not for the intensity of it." He replies, offhandedly.

"What the fuck was wrong with your family?"

Alexander gives her a weird look that reminds her of the ones Professor Dumbledore gives her. He's never looked at her like that before and it sends shivers down her spine.

"It was quite harsh of Elliot, don't you think? But, he makes a valid point: are you sure you're even a Black."

And just like that little Alexander is gone.

Even though he's been dead for three centuries, Alexander's managed to make Aurelia feel quite unsure of herself. Between the events of this past school years, and Alexander's knowing look, Aurelia can't help but wonder.

 _Is she really a Black_?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aurelia lives in a fucking castle, she's a motherfucking princess! There wasn't a lot of action in this chapter (but what it lacks in action it makes up in foreshadowing! ;))) !) but I just wanted to explore Aurelia's home life more, I don't think I did a very good job in the original so I wanted to fix that . . . I'm really proud of this chapter, especially Almerry Island, Almerry Castle, and the history surrounding it whoop it's the peak of my creativity! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! I'd really like to know what you thought of it so if you want you should let me know!


	6. | IV: ❝Dudley Gets Tongue-Tied❞

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate to do this but since I have restarted this story no one has left any feedback (besides two (2) people) so I would really appreciate it if you could leave a comment letting me know if you like it so far, I have worked really hard on this story and feedback is very important to me, I don't need you to say a lot, just a few words on what you thought of it would suffice. I just really want to know if people are enjoying this story, I don't mean to be rude or annoying, I'm just curious. Moving on, thank you so so much for reading and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**_CHAPTER iv!_**  
Dudley Gets Tongue-Tied

* * *

 

 **AURELIA** , **MAEVE** , **AND ELLIOT DECIDE TO SPEND** a few nights at the burrow the before the Quidditch Word Cup. This turns out to be a very bad idea, Molly makes Mae cry multiple times a day and though Aurelia adores Molly, this makes her want to fight Molly.

Mae always calms her down before she can say anything, Mae says it's not Molly's fault that she's so mean to her but Molly's parents who had taught her to hate Squibs. Molly and Mae got along quite swell when Molly's older brother, Gideon Prewett had first married, Mae's older sister, Moira Macleod but then Molly had found out she was a Squib and it had kind of went downhill from there. Between the deaths of Gideon and Moira and the fact that Molly's children adore Mae, Molly forces herself to get along with Mae for the most part.

Today is the day that Aurelia along with the Weasley boys are going to rescue Harry from the Dursleys. Mae is in the garden with Molly, Ginny, and Hermione and so far the woman have been getting along. Aurelia is upstairs writing a letter to Neville but she's keeping her ears open just in case Molly tries to start something with Mae.

Sometimes it's good to have extremely good hearing. Aurelia can just faintly hear Ginny and Hermione giggling about Neville and herself. It makes her blush, of course, but it's good to know that Neville might possibly like like her. At least that's what Ginny's saying.

Arthur calls her name, she pushes the letter aside and heads downstairs.

"Are you ready, Blue?" Arthur wonders as she comes up beside him.

"Aye, Aye, Mr. Weasley!" She replies, saluting him.

"Blue, you've known me for three years how many times do I have to tell you to call me, Arthur?" He asks, shaking his head and smiling fondly at her.

"Aye, Aye, Mr. Arthur!" She says, saluting him again.

Arthur sighs exasperated "That — That's better, I suppose."

She grins brightly at him while Fred, George, and Ron laugh at her antics.

"We'll be taking the Floo Network to the Dursleys to pick up Harry." Arthur explains then gives the twins and Aurelia a pointed look, "And, no funny business."

"Mr. Weasley!" Aurelia gasps, placing a hand over her heart, "I would never! I'm an angel! I don't do funny business!"

The Weasley twins snort.

Arthur sighs again "Clark the Chicken, Ron's shirt, Molly's muffins, Percy —"

"Uh, okay, okay... Maybe a saint is a better way to describe me then ."

"I think 'saint' might be pushing it, Blue." Ron says dryly.

"Saint is definitely pushing it." Fred says.

"It's bloody shoving it, I'd describe you as more of a devil spawn." George adds.

"Oi! I thought we were off to pick Harry up, not pick on me!" Aurelia exclaims.

"We are, all of you stop your fussing, we're running late as it is." Arthur says, "Follow me, kids."

Arthur goes first, Fred follows him and Aurelia cuts George off and goes next. However, there's a wee problem: the Dursley's fireplace is blocked.

Aurelia finds herself squashed in between Arthur and Fred.

"Well, this went well — ouch! Fred!" Aurelia cries out as he steps on her foot.

"No — go back, go back, there's been some kind of mistake — tell George, not to — ouch!" Arthur yelps, "George, no, there's no room, go back quickly and tell Ron —"

"Maybe Harry can hear us, Dad! Maybe he'll be able to let us out?" George suggests, "Harry? Harry, can you hear us?"

On the other side of the fireplace Aurelia can hear angry voices yelling at Harry.

Harry's voice asks loud and clear: "Mr. Weasley? Can you hear me?"

Arthur stops hammering on the fireplace and shushes them.

"Mr. Weasley, it's Harry... the fireplace has been blocked up. You won't be able to get through there."

"Damn!" Arthur curses, "What on earth did they want to block up the fireplace for?"

"They've got an electric fire," Harry explains.

"Really?" Arthur asks excitedly, "Eclectic, you say? With a plug? Gracious, I must see that . . . Let's think . . . Ouch, Ron!"

Aurelia groans as she was squashed even more.

Ron then proceeds to ask: "What are we doing here? Has something gone wrong?"

"Oh no, Ron," Fred replies, sarcastically, "No, this is exactly where we wanted to end up."

"Yeah, we're having the time of our lives here," George adds in a dry tone

"Boys, boys..." Arthur scolds vaguely. "I'm trying to think what to do... Yes... Only way... Stand back, Harry."

Arthur raises his wand.

A gruff voice on the other side bellows "Wait a moment! What exactly are you going to —"

He does not receive an answer as Arthur has already said the spell, causing the wall blocking the fireplace to explode.

"Holy mother of tits!" Aurelia curses under her breath, covering her ears at the loud noise.

"That's better." Arthur pants, brushing the dust from his long green robes and straightening his glasses, "Ah, you must be Harry's aunt and uncle!"

He holds out his hand for them to shake but they back away.

Aurelia feels eyes on her, she looks up to see Harry's cousin, Dudley Dursley staring at her. She doesn't understand why, she's not that ugly. In fact, puberty had beat her ass these past two summers and she actually looks cute on most days now.

He's peeking around the edge of the doorway, no one else seems to notice him. She narrows her eyes at him and turns her nose into a pig nose, Dudley's eyes widen in fear and he disappears from view.

"Er — yes — sorry about that," Arthur begins, lowering his hand and looks over his shoulder at the blasted fireplace, "It's all my fault. It just didn't occur to me that we wouldn't be able to get out at the other end. I had your fireplace connected to the Floo Network, you see — just for an afternoon, you know, so we could get Harry. Muggle fireplaces aren't supposed to be connected, strictly speaking — but I've got a useful contact at the Floo Regulation Panel and he fixed it for me. I can put it right in a jiffy, though, don't worry. I'll light a fire to send the boys back, and then I can repair your fireplace before I Disapparate."

From the looks on their faces, Aurelia can tell they don't understand a single word coming out of Arthur's mouth.

"Hello, Harry!" Arthur says, smiling brightly "Got your trunk ready?"

"It's upstairs," Harry replies, grinning.

"We'll get it!" Fred offers at once, winking at Harry.

Aurelia knows that Fred and George are hoping for a glimpse of Dudley. They want to test their Ton-Tongue Toffees on him.

"Well..." Arthur says, swinging his arms slightly, "Very — erm — very nice place you've got here."

The remark doesn't sit too well with the Dursleys. Vernon Dursley's face turned purple, Petunia Dursley starts chewing her tongue. However, they seem to be too scared to actually say anything.

Arthur looks around the Dursley's house, he loves everything to do with Muggles, she can tell he's itching to go and examine the television and the video recorder.

"They run off eckeltricity, do they?" He says knowledgeably, "Ah yes, I can see the plugs. I collect plugs... And batteries. Got a very large collection of batteries. My wife thinks I'm mad, but there you are."

Dudley comes into the room and once again, Aurelia turns her nose into a pig's nose, although he looks scared he glares at her.

She turns it back to normal and smiles brightly at him, giggling: "I can do dogs and birds as well!"

"I can also do this!" She says and morphs her face into a copy of his. Nym had taught her well this summer. Aurelia smiles at him and Dudley yelps, hiding behind his mother, not that it does him much good.

"Ah, this is your cousin, is it, Harry?" Arthur wonders, taking another brave stab at making conversation.

"Yep." Harry replies, "That's Dudley."

"Having a good holiday, Dudley?" He asks kindly but he only receives a whimper in reply.

Fred and George enter the living room and look around. When they spot Dudley, their faces light up with identical evil grins.

 _Oh, this should be fun_ , Aurelia thinks to herself.

"Ah, right," Arthur announces as he brandishes his wand, "Better get cracking then — Incendio!"

Flames rose at once in the fireplace, crackling merrily as though they had been burning for hours. Arthur takes a small drawstring bag from his pocket, unties it and takes a pinch of the powder inside, and throws it onto the flames, which turn emerald green and roar higher than ever.

"Off you go then, Fred," Arthur calls to Fred.

"Coming," Fred says cheerily.

He pretends to trip.

"Oh no — hang on —" Fred says in a fake tone of surprise, a bag of sweets spills out of his pocket and the contents roll in every direction — big, fat toffees in brightly colored wrappers.

Aurelia tries to hide the amused smile on her face but the tone of Fred's voice had really got to her, it's like he's not even trying to make it look or sound like an accident, she shakes her head at him.

Fred scrambles around, cramming most ofthem back into his pocket, then gives the Dursleys a cheery wave. He steps forward and walks right into the fire "The Burrow!" and with a whooshing sound, Fred vanishes.

"Aurelia, you next!"

She follows Fred's actions and soon finds herself back in the kitchen of the burrow.

"Did he eat it?!" Fred asks her.

"Nope, I wish, however, he was going to pick one up as I was leaving, I expect he's eaten it by now."

Fred looks thrilled by her answer "Wonderful." He says just as twin appears.

Bill and Charlie shake their heads, though they too look amused.

"I can't believe you three. Trying to give the muggles heart attacks. Mum will have your heads." Charlie tells them, laughing.

"It'll be worth it." George grins.

When Harry floos in, he lands on his face and Aurelia laughs loudly at this.

Fred holds out a hand for Harry, asking: "Did he eat it?"

"Yeah..." Harry replies, straightening up, "What was it?"

"Ton-Tongue Toffee." Fred answers, "George and I invented them, and we've been looking for someone to test them on all summer . . ."

The kitchen explodes with laughter.

Harry looks around, his gaze lingers on Bill and Charlie, Aurelia realises this must be his first time meeting them.

"How are you doing, Harry?" Charlie wonders, grinning at him. She then remembers Ron telling her that Harry and Hermione had given a baby dragon to him sometime back in first year or something along those lines.

then Bill — the Weasley with the best hair, in Aurelia's opinion; if she's being honest, she's rather jealous of his hair — stands up to shake hands with Harry, before they can say anything there's a faint popping noise.

Arthur apparates next to George.

"That wasn't funny Fred!" He shouts, "What on earth did you give that muggle boy?!"

"I didn't give him anything." Fred replies, "I just dropped it, didn't tell him to eat anything. It's not my fault he ate it, it's all his."

Aurelia laughs quietly, high-fiving George below the kitchen table.

"You knew he'd eat it!" Arthur roars, "You dropped it on purpose you —"

"How big did his tongue get?" George asks eagerly.

"It was four feet long before his parents let me shrink it!" Arthur answers they burst out laughing again.

"It isn't funny!" He shouts, "This sort of behavior seriously undermines wizard-Muggle relations! I spend half my life campaigning against the mistreatment against Muggles and my own sons —"

"We didn't give it to him just because he was a Muggle!" Fred exclaims, offended by his father's accusation.

"No, we gave it to him because he's a bullying git." George adds, "Isn't he, Harry?"

"Yeah, he is, Mr. Weasley." Harry replies, earnestly.

"Well, you know the saying, payback is a motherfucker." Aurelia cuts in, cringing slightly after realising she cursed in front of Arthur, the girl's face went red with shame and she looked down.

Arthur looks at Aurelia, calmly saying: "Aurelia, please watch your language."

He turns back to Fred and George and continues to scold them, very angrily, might she add. Usually it's Molly who yells at them with an anger so intense, one might think she's about to rip their heads off. Aurelia's rather surprised to see Arthur Weasley so angry, she never thought that'd be possible before today.

"That's not the point!" Arthur continues to shout and Aurelia figures she should go find Mae and she what she's up to.

"You wait until I tell your mother —"

"Tell me what?"

Now is definitely the time for Aurelia to leave, she doesn't want to witness the wrath of Molly Weasley, even if it's not directed at her. She heads upstairs without a second thought.

"Rest in peace, Fred and George, they will be missed." Aurelia mutters to herself as she leaves the kitchen.

"What have they done this time?" Molly demands to know, "If it's got anything to do with Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes —"

The twins are royally screwed.

As Aurelia heads upstairs, she can hear Molly continue to chew out the twins. Her tone seems to be unusually calmer than normal so that means she's yet to find out what they've actually done.

"Back so soon, dear?" Mae calls out, leaning on the railing of the floor above Aurelia, "Ye didn't maim the Dursleys, did ye?"

"No, Mr. Weasley wouldn't like that." Aurelia replies, sighing.

"Y'know ye can call him, Arthur, right?" Mae wonders, rolling her eyes.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't."

Ron and Ginny climb up the stairs, laughing as Harry and Hermione follow behind them.

"Mum found this stack of order forms when she was cleaning Fred and George's room. Great long price lists for stuff they've invented, joke stuff, you know. Fake wands and trick sweets, loads of stuff. It was brilliant, I never knew they'd been inventing all that." Ron says quietly.

Aurelia moves to Mae's side to get out of their way.

"We've been hearing explosions out of their room for ages, but we never thought they were actually making things. We thought they just liked the noise." Ginny adds.

With squinted eyes, Mae gapes at Harry, he stares back at her.

"Oh! That's our Aunt Mae . . . She's like our mum's sister." Ron tells him.

Mae stares at Harry in wonder "Harry Potter, huh? Pleasure to meet ye."

Aurelia's hair turns dark green, the way Mae is staring at Harry remind her of the way her parents look at Draco.

"Uh, hi . . . Pleasure to meet you too."

Mae laughs, placing a hand on Aurelia's back and proudly says: "Wee moon's told me a lot about ye . . . I'm her legal guardian."

Aurelia's heart swells and she wonders why she felt jealous. There's nothing to be jealous about.

"Anyway, most of the stuff — well, all of it, really — was a bit dangerous, and, you know, they were planning to sell it at Hogwarts to make some money, and Mum went mad at them. Told them they weren't allowed to make any more of it, and burned all the order forms. . . . She's furious at them anyway. They didn't get as many O.W.L.s as she expected." Ron explains.

"And then there was this big row because Mum wants them to go into the Ministry of Magic like Dad, and they told her all they want to do is open a joke shop." Ginny says.

"It was pretty nasty." Aurelia pipes in.

"They should open a joke shop, they'd be damed good at it." Mae says firmly, the four teens look at her in surprise.

"I know it's not my place to say anythin' but, I think their joke shop could really go places." Mae adds quickly.

Aurelia agrees with Mae wholeheartedly, Fred and George have wanted to open a joke for years, she's seen the products they've created and they're amazing. Next to Elliot and Lee, she's their biggest supporter. When Molly had burned their price and order lists, she had stayed up all night rewriting them. Aurelia'd pay for a place for them in full but they'd never let her do that.

At that moment, Percy opens his door and sticks his head out.

"Hi, Percy." Harry says.

"Oh, hello, Harry." Percy says, "I was wondering who was making all the noise. I'm trying to work in here, you know — I've got a report to finish for the office — and it's rather difficult to concentrate when people keep thundering up and down the stairs."

"Then cast a Silencing Charm on your room." Aurelia suggests.

Percy looks at her and his annoyed expression softens slightly "I suppose I could try that."

Though Aurelia hung out with the Weasley twins most out of all the Weasleys, her and Percy are quite close. She relates to him the most, although his parents love him just the same as all his other siblings, he's still obviously the outcast. Aurelia likes Percy and though he doesn't show it, she knows he likes her too.

Oliver Wood had told her so. Apparently on more than one occasion, Percy's referred to her as one of his closest friends and she says the same about him. He understands her better than any of the other Weasley, maybe even better than her friends.

"We're not thundering, we're walking. Sorry if we've disturbed the top-secret workings of the Ministry of Magic." Ron says irritably.

"What are you working on?" Harry asks

"A report for the Department of International Magical Cooperation," Percy replies, "We're trying to standardize cauldron thickness. Some of these foreign imports are just a shade too thin — leakages have been increasing at a rate of almost three percent a year —"

"That'll change the world, that report will," Ron says sarcastically, "Front page of the Daily Prophet, I expect, cauldron leaks."

Percy turns pink.

"I think it's neat." Aurelia interjects in an attempt to save Percy from embarrassment, "Thicker cauldrons would be of great use to Neville, it'd save him from Snape's wrath . . . Maybe."

Percy gives Aurelia an appreciative nod "You might sneer, Ron, but unless some sort of international law is imposed we might well find the market flooded with flimsy, shallow-bottomed products that seriously endanger —"

"Yeah, yeah, all right," Ron says as he and his friends continue up the stairs, Percy scowls at him.

"Don't be so rude, Ronald!" Aurelia calls after him then turns to Percy "Hey, Perce, mind if I hang —"

Percy slams his bedroom door shut.

Her smile fades "Or I can go do something else, that's fine."

Mae pats her shoulder "He mustn't of heard ye."

"Right, right. I've got a letter to finish anyway." Aurelia says softly.

"Very well, I'm gonna go help Molls with dinner. I believe we're eating outside tonight." Mae says, smiling.

Aurelia groans and Mae laughs lightly.

"I know, I know . . . Ye despise eating outdoors but there's just no room for everyone indoors. This'll be a good chance for ye to use that spell . . . Y'know . . . That one." Mae tells her, giving her a cheeky grin.

Aurelia's eyes light up "Oh, yeah! That one!"

With that Aurelia head up to Ginny's room that's cluttered with mattresses belonging to her, Mae, and Hermione.

She tiptoes through the maze of mattresses careful not to trip on any especially the one that Freddie's resting on. Once she reaches her mattress, she reaches for her messenger bag and pulls out her writing book.

A writing book that she's just recently labelled 'Aurelia's Spells & Other Shit'.

She's had this writing book since she was six and she had started creating her own spells when she was seven after she had learned that most spells were derived from the Latin language much like her name had been.

For her seventh birthday she had demanded that her parents get her a Latin dictionary to help her learn the language, thus began her career in spell-making. It didn't go very well at first because most of them were dumb and childish, she didn't make her first successful spell until after she had started Hogwarts where she learned that spells usually needed a certain movement to help it work properly. Once she had added that very significant detail, her spells improved greatly.

"Ooh, there it is!" Aurelia laughs, finding the spell Mae had been referring to. She'll have to ask Arthur to use it, this way they won't have to worry about any bugs getting in their food.

Aurelia bookmarks the page and pushes it aside, she notes that she'll need a new writing book soon, there's only ten pages left of it. She returns to the letter she had been writing to Neville before she had to go to the Dursleys.

She reaches into her bag once more and gropes around for a Muggle pen but much to her dismay she hadn't brought one.

"Well, fuck me gently with a chainsaw!" Aurelia mutters, quoting _Heathers_ a Muggle movie that Olivia had showed her. For some reason that line had really stuck out to her and now she uses it for everything, especially minor inconveniences that befall her.

Sighing to herself as she realises she'll have to a quill and a pot of ink, while she's used to that, she prefers the Muggle pens more.

* * *

Aurelia isn't writing long for very long when a commotion outside catches her attention. She glances out the window to see that Bill and Charlie both have their wands out, making two battered old tables fly high above the lawn, smashing into each other, each attempting to knock the other's out of the air. She can hear Fred and George cheering and Ginny laughing over it.

Bill's table caught Charlie's with a huge bang and knocks one of its legs off. The loudness of the collision causes Aurelia to flinch and drop her quill, she spills ink all over her letter to Neville.

"That's brilliant." She huffs, "Totally fucking brilliant."

Now she's got to start all over, it's a good thing she likes writing letters to Neville.

She hears a window being opened, shortly after she hears Percy bellow out: "Will you keep it down?!"

"Sorry, Perce! How're the cauldron bottoms coming on?" Bill calls out.

"Very badly." Percy replies peevishly, slamming his window shut.

Bill and Charlie direct the tables safely onto the grass, end to end, and then with a flick of his wand, Bill reattaches the table leg and conjures tablecloths from nowhere.

By seven o'clock, the two tables were groaning under dishes and dishes of Mrs. Weasley's excellent cooking, and the nine Weasleys, Harry, Mae, Elliot, and Aurelia sat themselves down to enjoy a nice dinner.

Mae and Aurelia sit next to Percy while Elliot sits next to George, Aurelia grabs some ham and potatoes as she listens in on the conversation Percy is having with Arthur.

"I've told Mr. Crouch that I'll have it ready by Tuesday," Percy says, "That's a bit sooner than he expected it, but I like to keep on top of things. I think he'll be grateful I've done it in good time, I mean, it's extremely busy in our department just now, what with all the arrangements for the World Cup. We're just not getting the support we need from the Department of Magical Games and Sports. Ludo Bagman —"

"I like Ludo." Arthur says mildly, "He was the one who got us such good tickets for the Cup. I did him a bit of a favor: His brother, Otto, got into a spot of trouble — a lawnmower with unnatural powers — I smoothed the whole thing over."

"Oh Bagman's likable enough, of course," Percy says dismissively, "But how he ever got to be Head of Department . . . When I compare him to Mr. Crouch! I can't see Mr. Crouch losing a member of our department and not trying to find out what's happened to them. You realize Bertha Jorkins has been missing for over a month now? Went on holiday to Albania and never came back?"

"Yes, I was asking Ludo about that," Mr. Weasley replies, frowning, "He says Bertha's gotten lost plenty of times before now — though I must say, if it was someone in my department, I'd be worried. . ."

"Oh. Bertha's hopeless, all right. I hear she's been shunted from department to department for years, much more trouble than she's worth . . . But all the same, Bagman ought to be trying to find her. Mr. Crouch has been taking a personal interest, she worked in our department at one time, you know, and I think Mr. Crouch was quite fond of her — but Bagman just keeps laughing and saying she probably misread the map and ended up in Australia instead of Albania. However —" Percy lets out an sigh and takes a deep swig of his drink, "We've got quite enough on our plates at the Department of International Magical Cooperation without trying to find members of other departments too. As you know, we've got another big event to organize right after the World Cup."

 _The Triwizard Tournament_ , Aurelia thinks with a shudder.

Percy clears his throat, glancing toward the end of the table where Harry, Ron, and Hermione are sitting.

"You know the one I'm talking about, Father." He raises his voice slightly, "The top-secret one."

"You mean —" Aurelia begins to say but Mae clamps at hand over her a mouth.

"Don't ye dare." Mae hisses in her ear, "Yer not supposed to know."

Aurelia sighs but drops it and grabs some more potatoes.

"When will we be going dress shopping, Mae?" Aurelia asks.

"Sometime after the World Cup, have ye thought of what kind of dress you want?"

"Something extravagant and yellow . . . Maybe a pale pink colour." Aurelia says.

Mae rolls her eyes "O' course, why did I even bother askin'." She says playfully.

"To be polite, I suppose." Aurelia drawls out teasingly.

Aurelia glances around the table, her green eyes landing on Molly who is fussing over Bill.

"Mum, no one at the bank gives a damn how I dress as long as I bring home plenty of treasure." Bill says patiently.

"And your hair's getting silly, dear," Molly tells him, "I wish you'd let me give it a trim. . ."

"I like it." Ginny says, "You're so old- fashioned, Mum. Anyway, it's nowhere near as long as Professor Dumbledore's. . . "

"Long hair is the Shiiiiiitake Mushrooms... It suits you, Willy." Aurelia pipes in.

Bill rolls his eyes at the silly nickname and her very lame attempt at covering up her cursing.

"That's true!" Elliot agrees, jumping into their conversation and leaving the one he had been in with the twins and Charlie. "Long hair and eyeliner on guys is positively lovely."

"It sounds like you just described yourself there, Ellie."

"Is that something you're into, Bill?" He asks teasingly, giving the older boy a wink.

George chokes on his drink, narrowing his eyes at Bill and Elliot.

"I'm into that on girls. Sorry to disappoint." Bill jokes.

Elliot laughs loudly then turns back to the twins and Charlie.

"It's got to be Ireland," Charlie says thickly, through a mouthful of potato, "They flattened Peru in the semifinals."

"Bulgaria has got Viktor Krum, though." Fred says.

"Krum's one decent player, Ireland has got seven," Charlie says shortly, "I wish England had got through. That was embarrassing, that was."

"What happened?" Harry asks eagerly.

"Went down to Transylvania, three hundred and ninety to ten," Charlie replies gloomily, "Shocking performance. And Wales lost to Uganda, and Scotland was slaughtered by Luxembourg."

"Scotland was a disaster." Elliot groans, sounding more than disappointed.

"So, just like your life?" Aurelia teases.

Elliot glares at her then smiles sweetly "You mean just like _your_ life? I'm not the disaster of our family here."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Aurelia's friendships with the Weasleys with my whole ass heart, especially Percy! I love Percy so much,,, I would die for him!! I really shouldn't be posting this chapter because of my keyboard but I'm doing it anyone because I have no impulse control!! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!! I'd really like to know what you thought of it so if you want you should let me know!


	7. | V: ❝Squib Wars: a New Fight❞

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! Despite the fact my keyboard is on the Verge of Death I managed to get three whole chapters typed up and I'm super proud of myself because I have been very tired and sad this past week, but the fact I got so much done makes me feel a bit better Thanks for reading, I really hope you enjoy the chapter, please leave a review letting me know what you thought of it!

****

**CHAPTER v ** _!_**  
** Squib Wars: a New Fight

* * *

 

 **AURELIA WATCHES AS FIVE BOYS STUMBLE INTO** the kitchen, yawning, Aurelia's just as tired as they are. She glances at Mae, who's making breakfast at the moment along with Molly. Aurelia's extremely tired all due to the fact she had been unable to get much sleep last night. The nightmare she's had for as long as she can remember decided that last night would be a wonderful night to come around again.

Every time she had dozed off she would hear crazed laughter, women screaming, a baby crying, and flashes of bright, different coloured lights dancing across her line of vision. Aurelia's used to the nightmare, but it had kept her from getting sleep last night as it seemed to be more vivid than usual.

Aurelia rubs her eyes, letting out a huge yawn, this game better be worth it, she thinks to herself, leaning back in her seat.

George looks around the room "Where's Bill and Charlie and Per — per — Percy?" He wonders, failing to stifle a yawn which causes her to yawn yet again.

"Well, they're apparating, aren't they?" Molly replies.

 _In other words_ , _they're still sleeping_? Aurelia thinks grumpily, narrowing her eyes at nothing. She rests her chin on her fist, sighing as she does so, _those lucky little shits_.

"So they can have a bit of a lie in." Mae adds then looks to Molly for confirmation, Molly nods.

"So they're still in bed." Fred says grumpily, pulling his bowl of porridge towards him. Aurelia laughs softly, although she's rather bitter that they got to sleep in more.

Fred gives her a look and whispers: "Those lucky gits."

"Why can't we apparate too?" George asks.

"Because you're not of age and you haven't passed your test!" Molly snaps.

George looks taken back by his mother's sharp tone, once again Aurelia laughs quietly, shaking her head and smiling.

"And where have those girls got to?" Molly wonders, shaking her head as she bustles out of the kitchen.

Aurelia follows shortly after her as she still needs to brush her hair and teeth, grab her bag, and camera.

After doing those things, Aurelia hoists her messenger bag over her shoulder and hangs her camera around her neck. She pauses in front of Fred and George's room, the door's open a crack and the lights are off. Aurelia smirks, _should she_? She thinks for a moment before nodding to herself, placing her hand on their door, _she should_.

As she exits the twins' room she bumps into Hermione and Ginny. Hermione stares her down, suspicious.

Aurelia turns red, her teensy, tiny crush on Hermione has yet to subside "Good morning." She squeaks out.

Hermione raises her eyebrow "What are you up to?"

"Oh, just leaving a surprise for the twins." Aurelia answers as nonchalantly as she can.

Ginny snickers while Hermione rolls her eyes, then the three of them head downstairs.

The kitchen is looking more lively than it had been before Aurelia went upstairs. Mae ruffles her hair as she passes by to take a seat at the table.

"Why do we have to be up so early?" Ginny asks, rubbing her eyes and sitting down at the table.

"We've got a bit of a walk." Arthur replies.

"Walk?" Harry asks, "What? Are we walking to the World Cup?"

Aurelia snorts, if that had been the case then Aurelia wouldn't be going.

"No, no, that's miles away," Arthur says, smiling, "We only need to walk a short way. It's just that it's very difficult for a large number of wizards to congregate without attracting Muggle attention. We have to be very careful about how we travel at the best of times, and on a huge occasion like the Quidditch World Cup —"

"George!" Molly says sharply, they all jump.

"What?" George asks, in an innocent tone that deceives nobody.

"What is that in your pocket?"

"Nothing!"

"Don't you lie to me!"

Molly points her wand at George's pocket and says: "Accio!"

Several small, brightly coloured objects zoomed out of George's pocket; he tries to grab for them but misses, and they speed right into Molly's outstretched hand.

"We told you to destroy them!" Molly scolds furiously, holding up what are unmistakably more Ton-Tongue Toffees, "We told you to get rid of the lot! Empty your pockets, go on, both of you!"

It's an unpleasant scene that upsets Aurelia, she knows how hard the twins had worked on the Ton-Tongue-Toffees, Elliot looks close to tears as he tugs on Mae's shirt for help.

"Accio! Accio! Accio!" She shouts, and toffees zoomed from all sorts of unlikely places, including the lining of George's jacket and the turn-ups of Fred's jeans.

"We spent six months developing those!" Fred shouts at his mother as she begins to throw the toffees away.

Mae grabs the rest from Molly "Come on, Molls . . . They worked hard on those . . . I know they don't use them right but that's no reason to destroy their hard work! Just put them to the side until they get back."

Molly rounds on Maeve "You stay out of this!"

Molly turns back to the twins "What a fine way to spend six months!" she shrieks, "No wonder you didn't get more O.W.L.s!"

"Molls, please, they're just having fun! Ye can't deny that these are brilliant, they can make good money off of this . . ."

"I told you to stay out of this, Maeve! Stop telling me how to raise my children, what would you know, you just let Aurelia and Elliot do whatever they want! You're no —" Molly stops herself, realising that she's about to cross a line.

Mae's expression hardens.

"I'm 'no' what?" Mae questions her.

Molly gulps and shakes her head, mumbling: "Nothing, nothing."

"No, go on, Molls . . . Say it, I'm 'no' what?"

"You're not a mother, you don't have any kids of your own." Molly says softly, "Though you like to pretend, Elliot and Aurelia are not yours."

Mae gives Molly a cold stare and slides the Ton-Tongue Toffees she had managed to save into her pocket "Ye three ain't gettin' these until after the World Cup, you understand me, boys."

The twins and Elliot nod their heads, they know better than to cross Mae even if she doesn't have any magic.

All is not friendly in the atmosphere as the group takes to their departure for the Quidditch World Cup. Molly is still glowering as she kisses Arthur on the cheek, but the older woman isn't glowering as much as the twins are. Fred and George hoist their rucksacks onto their backs and walk out the door without so much as a word to their mother, Elliot follows behind them.

"Well have a lovely time. And behave yourselves!" She calls out to the twins' and Elliot's retreating backs, neither of them looks back or answers.

"I'll send, Bill, Charlie, and Percy along around midday." Molly says to Arthur, as he, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Mae, and Aurelia set off across the dark yard after Fred and George.

It's chilly and the moon is still out, the only sign that dawn is drawing closer is the bright greenish tinge along the horizon.

"Mae, you alright?" Aurelia asks.

Mae fakes a smile and nods her head "O' course, I am . . . Molly doesn't —"

"I think your a mother." Aurelia says, "And so does Elliot! Hell, he even calls you 'mum'! You're just as much a mother as Molly is!"

Mae smiles softly and pats Aurelia's head "Thank ye, wee moon. Go on now, I'm sure you'd much rather hang out with the twins and Ellie."

"But —"

"I'll be fine, ye needn't worry about me, wee moon."

"Okay . . . If you're sure . . ."

"I'm positive, now get!" Mae insists, gently shoving Aurelia towards the twins and Elliot.

Aurelia in her exhausted state, struggles to catch up to the twins and Elliot, who are walking a great deal faster than the rest of the group.

"Fred! George! Ellie!" She calls out to them, "Wait up!"

Fred slows down a bit while it looks as though George has sped up and Elliot follows his lead.

"You dinks!" Aurelia says, walking faster, determined to catch up with them, "I'll fight you if you don't slow the frick down!" at this remark, Fred chuckles allowing Aurelia to catch up to him.

She looks over her shoulder to see that Arthur is occupied in a conversation with Harry, Aurelia then reaches into her pockets pulling out a handful of Ton-Tongue Toffees.

"What? Where did you get those?" Fred asks, disbelief lacing his tone.

"I pulled them out of my ass." Aurelia replies, rolling her eyes "Where do you think I got them?" she questions sarcastically, a smirk on her face "I got them from your room when I went to get my camera. I knows you and George wouldn't be able to resist bringing them. But as always, I know you two would be caught and as always, I was right —"

Fred laughs as he exclaims: "Hey! We do not —"

"Tut, tut. lemme finish." She scolds playfully, Fred falls silent, playfully scowling at Aurelia. "So I grabbed some when I passed your room. You're welcome."

"Thanks, Blue, how can I ever repay you?" Fred gasps jokingly, taking the Ton-Tongue Toffees from her hand. "You're so sneaky!"

Aurelia rolls her eyes "Aww, shucks, that's the sweetest thing anyone has ever says to me!"

"How did you ever get sorted into Hufflepuff?" Fred wonders, looking from her to the Ton-Tongue Toffees in his hand.

"Well for starters, I'm very loyal, I can be kind, and I'm very hard working, unlike somebody I know." Aurelia quipped, her smirk growing.

"Hey, George and I are very hard working, thank you very much! But you're so sly and cunning and you can be brave. . . Sometimes."

"So, I was raised by Slytherins for eleven years of my life, of course, they'd leave some sort of impact on me. Besides I enjoy being a Hufflepuff. I'm proud to call myself one." She says as she smiles widely. When she had first been sorted into Hufflepuff, she had despised both herself and the house, but as the years went by she had learned to take pride in her house,

"Okay, okay." Fred says, placing his hands up in surrender, "Oh, Georgie, look what our little prankster in training has done."

"Ha, ha, ha. I'm am not your prankster in training. I don't do pranks, but if I does, I wouldn't get caught like you guys do."

"Hey! We do not!" Elliot exclaims

"Sure you guys don't, Ellie."

"Fuck you, Blue."

Stoatshead Hill appears in the distance, Aurelia groans "Aww, shite. Please don't tell me we have to climb that, Mr. Weasley."

"Watch your language, Blue. Yes, we have to climb it" Arthur answers, "And please call me, Arthur."

"Aww, Mr. Arthur! Can't we go around it?"

"Arthur! Just call me, Arthur, not Mr. Weasley or Mr. Arthur, just Arthur and no, Blue we cannot go around it."

She groans again.

None of the Weasleys, Harry, Hermione, Elliot, Mae, or Aurelia have a breath to spare for talking as they climb up Stoatshead Hill. She almost falls three times climbing the hill, although Aurelia can run faster than most and not get out of breath, she still despises physical activity greatly, especially when it comes to climbing.

"Whew." Arthur pants, taking off his glasses and wiping them on his sweater, "Well, we've made good time — we've got ten minutes."

Hermione comes over the crest of the hill, quickly followed by Aurelia, who is, of course, last. Both girls are clutching a stitch in their side.

"I want death." Aurelia whines, wanting nothing more to lie on the ground and fall asleep.

"You always want death." Fred remarks and George snickers at his brother and friend.

"That's true." She agrees half-heartedly with a shrug of her shoulders, leaning on to Fred's arm and letting out a huge yawn

"Now we just need to find the portkey." Arthur says, putting his now clean glasses back on. He squints at the groun, "It won't be big . . . Come on . . ."

They had only been looking around for the Portkey for a couple of minutes when a shout rang through the air.

"Over here, Arthur! Over here, son, we've got it!" Two figures are silhouetted against the starry sky on the other side of the hilltop.

"Amos!" Arthur calls out to the voice, he strides over to the two people and the group follows behind him.

Arthur shakes hands with a ruddy-faced wizard who holds a mouldy boot in his free hand.

"This is Amos Diggory, everybody." Arthur says, introducing the ruddy-faced wizard to the group, "He works for the Department for the regulation and control of magical creatures. I think you all know his son, Cedric."

Aurelia rushes forward to hug her fellow Hufflepuff friend.

"Ced!" She exclaims, startling him as she huggs him tightly.

"Hello, Blue!" He greets, hugging her in return.

"Hi!" Cedric says looking at the group, everybody says it back with the exception of Fred and George, who merely nod. The twins still have not forgiven Cedric or even Aurelia for beating their team in the first Quidditch match of the previous year.

"Long walk, Arthur?" Amos asks Arthur.

"Not too bad." Arthur replies, "We just live on the other side of the village."

"We had to get up at two, didn't we, Ced?" Amos says loudly to Arthur, "I tell you I'll be glad when he passes his apparation test. Still, not complaining . . . Quidditch World Cup, wouldn't miss it for a sack full of galleons — and the tickets cost about that. Mind you, looks like I got off easy." Cedric's father says, peering at the group of kids, "All these yours, Arthur?"

"Oh, no. Only the redheads." Arthur replies, and Aurelia changes her hair to a reddish-orange colour, smirking to herself, Arthur looks at her with a fond smile "Aurelia's part of our family too. This is Hermione Granger — a friend of Ron's, and this is Harry Potter, anoth —"

"Merlin's beard!" Amos gasps, "Harry? Harry Potter?!"

This always happens, Aurelia knows this makes Harry uncomfortable. He's the boy who lived, the boy who defeated the darkest wizards of all time when he was merely one-years-old. Harry's been famous ever since that night, he didn't even know that until his eleventh birthday, after all, he grew up with Muggles, his aunt and uncle never once told him about the wizarding world while he grew up.

Aurelia remembers meeting Harry on the train four years ago, during their first year at Hogwarts, it had been a rather awkward encounter.

"Ced's talked about you, of course." Amos says "He told us all about playing against you last year. . . I said to him. I said — Ced, that'll be something your grandchildren, that will — you beat Harry Potter!"

The twins scowl once again, Aurelia expects Cedric's father to brag about that, although he meant no harm by it, he's only proud of his son.

Cedric, however, looks downright embarrassed "Harry fell off his broom, dad." Cedric mutters, "I told you, it was an accident and it was technically Aurelia who beat him, she's our seeker after all."

"Yes, but she didn't fall off her broom." Amos laughs slapping Cedric's back, "Always modest our Ced, always the gentleman, but the best man — er, woman — won. I'm sure Harry would agree, wouldn't you? One falls off their broom, the other stays on, you don't need a genius to tell which one is a better flier!" Amos laughs loudly, causing Aurelia to roll her eyes at her friend's father.

"Harry was literally attacked by a Dementor while on a broom, hundreds of feet in the air but he's totally not a good flier at all." Aurelia says sarcastically.

Amos gives her dirty look and opens his mouth most likely to insult her when Arthur speaks up, directing everyone's attention back to him.

"Must be nearly time." Arthur says quickly, pulling out his watch "Do you know whether we're waiting for anymore?"

"Does your dad need some ice for that burn?" Fred asks Cedric, who bites back a laugh as he pulls Aurelia into a one-armed hug.

"Stop being so sassy, Little Blue." Cedric scolds her.

"No, the Lovegoods have been there for a week already and the Fawcetts couldn't get tickets." Amos replies to Arthur "There aren't any more of us in the area, are there?"

"None that I know of." Arthur says, "Yes, it's a minute off, we'd better get ready." Arthur looks at the group, his gaze lingering on Harry and Hermione.

"You just need to touch the portkey, that's all, a finger will do." Arthur explains.

Aurelia knows all about portkeys, she had used one once or twice as a child and they always make her nauseous, she eyes it warily.

"Why does it have to be a bloody portkey?" Aurelia mutters.

The group crowds around the old boot, that's being held out by Amos. They stand in a tight circle, and she can't help but think that this might look pretty odd if a Muggle happens to walk by. A group of redheads, a badly dressed old man, and three teenagers standing around an old boot will certainly give off some warning signs, if a Muggle had saw them they'd probably think they're in a cult that worships old mouldy boots.

"Three . . ." Arthur mutters, still eyeing his watch "Two . . . One . . ."

She yelps out as she finds herself being blown about in the wind, holding onto a damn moldy boot for dear life, this Quidditch World Cup is really testing her. She regrets asking those tickets.

Everyone's shoulders are bumping into each other, the wind's howling in Aurelia's ears, she squeezes her eyes shut.

As suddenly as it starts, it stops.

Aurelia feels her feet hit solid ground and she struggles to keep herself from toppling over. Her windswept hair is covering most of her view but through her thick strands of hair, she can see that Fred, Hermione, George, Ron, and Harry are on the ground entangled in each other.

She looks to her left, making herself even dizzier than she already is, Cedric, Arthur, Amos, Elliot, and Mae are standing perfectly still looking as if nothing had happened with the exception of them looking very windswept.

Then without warning, Aurelia falls over, she sighs in defeat as her face came in contact with the wet grass. She wonders if this is how Nymphadora feels on a daily basis.

Mae laughs loudly and helps her up "I used to hate Portkeys, wee moon, are ye alright?"

Aurelia nods as Mae brushes the dirt off her shirt.

Elliot snickers as he looks around "This is certainly going to be fun finding our tent. . . Isn't it, mum? Good thing we have a Hufflepuff with us because they're particularly good —"

Aurelia karate chops him in the throat with zero hesitation and he chokes on his words.

"Let. That. Die." She seethes.

"Hey! What have I told ye about karate choppin' Elliot in the throat?!" Mae scolds, "That's dangerous! Karate chop him in the stomach, it's less harmful but just as painful!"

* * *

Once they find their tents and they had made themselves at home in it, Arthur has Aurelia, Harry, Ron, and Hermione go and get water for the camp.

Aurelia isn't paying much attention to her surroundings, she's busy worrying about what might happen if she was to run into her parents and twin.

Ron breaks her train of thought, asking: "Er, is it just my eyes or has everything gone green?"

Aurelia turns her hair green and smiles teasingly at Ron.

"Don't mess with me like this, Blue, my brain is too fragile for that." He says, nudging her shoulder.

The four of them had walked into a patch of tents covered in thick growths of shamrocks.

From behind them, a familiar voice calls out their names.

Aurelia can recognize that voice anywhere. It's Seamus Finnigan, he's sitting in front of one of the tents with his mother and Dean Thomas.

 _Aww, so cute, they're on a date_! Aurelia thinks, she waggles her eyebrows at Seamus who clenches his jaw but doesn't say anything.

"Like the decorations?" Seamus wonders, "The ministry isn't too happy about it."

"Ah, and why shouldn't we show our colours." Mrs. Finnigan says.

"You should see what the Bulgarians have dangling all over their tents. You'll be supporting Ireland, of course?" She adds, eyeing them beadily, when they assure her they are indeed supporting Ireland, they set off again.

"Like we'd say anything else surrounded by that lot." Ron quips.

Aurelia smirks and suggests: "Let's go see what the Bulgarians have on their tents!"

Harry nods in agreement then points to a large patch of tents upheld, where the Bulgarian flag — white, green, and red — is fluttering in the breeze.

The tents here haven't been bedecked with plant life, but each and every one of them have the same poster attached to it, a poster of a very surly face with heavy black eyebrows. Aurelia recognises the face as Viktor Krum, he's Elliot's celebrity crush.

She had to hear him rant and rave all about Viktor Krum all summer, it's almost as bad as when he rants and raves about George and his 'cute shoulders'. Aurelia can't understand how anyone can think shoulders are cute. Elliot's strange but Aurelia can't say anything because he has too much dirt on her that he's not afraid to use.

"Krum." Ron says quietly.

"What?" Hermione asks.

"Krum!" Ron replies, "Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker!"

"He looks really grumpy," Hermione says, looking around at the many Krums blinking and scowling at them.

Aurelia giggles loudly and says: "He is, isn't he?"

"Really grumpy?" Ron echoes, "Who cares what he looks like? He's unbelievable. He's really young too. Only just eighteen or something. He's a genius, you wait until tonight, you'll see."

 _Apparently Viktor Krum is also Ron's celebrity crush_.

Finally they make their way to the water source, there's already a small queue for the water tap in the corner of the field, the four of them join in right behind a pair of men in a heated argument.

One of them is a very old wizard with a long beard wearing a flowery nightgown, the other is clearly a Ministry wizard, he's holding out a pair of pinstriped trousers almost crying with exasperation.

"Just put them on, Archie! You can't walk around like that, the Muggle at the gate's already getting suspicious —"

"I bought this in a Muggle shop." The old wizard retorts stubbornly, "Muggles wear them."

"Muggle women wear them, Archie! Not men, they wear these." The Ministry wizard argues brandishing the pinstriped trousers.

"I'm not wearing them." Archie says simply, "I like a healthy breeze around my privates, thanks."

Hermione is overcome with a strong fit of giggles and she has to move away to gain her composure. Aurelia bites her lip to keep from giggling but she fails miserably and has to walk away just like Hermione.

She stumbles over to a nearby tree and she leans against it for support. She's laughing so hard it hurt, Aurelia is struggling to regain her composure.

"What's so funny?" An airy voice, Aurelia knows all too well, asks.

She takes a deep breath to calm herself.

"Lu — Luna, 'ello!" She exclaims looking up to see Luna Lovegood standing before her, an empty bucket in her hands.

"Hello, Aurelia." Luna says in her usual dreamy tone, "How was your summer?"

"It was wonderful, Luna, thanks for asking! How was yours?" Aurelia replies eagerly.

Luna Lovegood is in the year below Aurelia, she's a Ravenclaw and she's one of Elliot's best friends. Aurelia's not sure how Elliot became friends with Luna all she knows is that no one's allowed to say anything bad at her unless they want to start a fight.

"Oh, it absolutely wonderful! Father and I Learned about Wrackspurts this summer, a very interesting creature." Luna explains.

"That sounds lovely. I think Harry and Ron have gotten some water, so we best head back to our tent. It was nice seeing you, Luna, I'll see you at school!"

"Okay, bye Aurelia, tell Ellie I said hello!"

"I will!"

* * *

"You've been ages!" George exclaims when they finally return to the tent.

"We met a few people along the way." Ron replies.

"I saw Luna... She says 'Hi', Elllie." Aurelia tells Elliot who smiles at the mention of Luna.

You not got the fire started, yet?" Ron asks.

"Dad's having fun with the matches." Fred says glancing at his father.

Arthur's having no success at all in lighting the fire, but it's not for the lack of trying, splintered matches littered the ground around him. Despite not being able to light a match, looks as though he's having the time of his life.

"Oops!" He says, lighting a match but he promptly drops it in surprise.

For someone who is obsessed with Muggle objects, he's terrible at working them.

Aurelia laughs silently, she's suprised that Mae hasn't stepped in yet to help then she looks around the tent and notices Mae isn't in the tent.

"Where'd Mae go?" Aurelia asks Elliot.

"Eh, she mentioned something about getting something to eat from one of those stand things." Elliot replies.

"Come here, Mr. Weasley." Hermione say kindly, taking the box from him and shows him how to do it properly.

Aurelia smiles, _Hermione's so kind and nice and_ —

"Do you also have a crush on Hermione?" Elliot whispers in her ear.

She shakes her head, turning red "No — no, no! I don't have a crush on anybody especially not a girl!"

Elliot frowns then throws his arm around her shoulder "Hey, Aurelia. . . Let's go for a walk."

"I just went on a walk." Aurelia says.

"We need to talk."

She swallows thickly, a feeling of panic grows in her chest.

_This can't be be good!_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SAY IT T LOUD FOR THE KIDS IN THE BACK: MAEVE PREWETT DESERVES ONLY LOVE AND HAPPINESS! SHE HAS ONLY DONE TWO THINGS WRONG IN HER LIFE! "We need to talk." Are four words that will never fail to turn me into an anxious mess. God, I love my confused, Bisexual child! What do you think Elliot wants to talk about? Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter


	8. | VI: ❝. . . a Veela After Midnight❞

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the chapter, please leave a review letting me know what you thought of it, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated!

****

**CHAPTER vi!**

(Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!) . . . a Veela After Midnight

* * *

 

" **THEY'RE SELLING CORN-DOGS**." **ELLIOT SAYS** , **POINTING AT** one of the stands surrounding them. Aurelia doesn't want a bloody corn-dog she wants to know why Elliot had insisted that she go on a walk with him.

It made her nervous especially because of the fact he had asked that right after he had asked if she had a crush on Hermione.

Oh no, Aurelia thinks, he's against this. He's against it and he's gonna tell Maeve and they're going to send her back to her mum and dad, they're —

"I've got something to tell you." Elliot says.

Aurelia blinks away tears, her mouth opens in surprise "What?"

This isn't at all what she's expecting.

"I'm gay . . . I know I'm not very subtle about it but you're the first person I've told outside of George, Fred, and Lee." Elliot says.

Aurelia's not surprised by this revelation she's always suspected that Elliot's not straight but she never said anything, it had never been any of her business and she had never wanted to offend him.

Growing up, being gay hadn't exactly been frowned upon by her parents but they didn't exactly seem to think it was normal. Her parents' friends had been terrible about it, they made it clear that it wasn't normal which is probably why Aurelia's afraid to say anything about her ' _girls are fuckin' cute_ ' quirk to anybody to this day.

"I haven't told mum yet." Elliot confesses.

Now this surprises Aurelia, Elliot tells Mae everything and that worries her. Why wouldn't he tell her? Is Maeve against it? Merlin, she wishes that her little theory Mae and her Aunt had been true right about now.

"Why not?" Aurelia wonders, chewing on her lower lip in a nervous manner.

Elliot shrugs "I think she already knows . . . How could she not after my blatant crush on Percy when I was five . . . I used to have terrible taste in men so don't judge me."

Aurelia punches his shoulder lightly "You're so mean! Percy ain't that bad!"

"Clearly because Oliver bloody Wood has taken a fancy to him." Elliot snickers.

"You laugh but they're actually very cute! I think they balance each other out quite nicely. Has he told Molly and Arthur yet?"

"About Oliver? No. But George's told me that he came out to them a week ago and Molly got three sickles from Arthur." Elliot replies, laughing.

Aurelia laughs as well.

Elliot sobers up, his calm expression turning serious "You know you can tell me anything right, Aurelia?"

She nods "Of course."

He stares at her her expectantly as they walk around the grounds of the World Cup.

"What?" She asks, giving him a confused look.

Elliot sighs dramatically before shaking his head "Nothing, nothing . . . Want to head back now, there's nothing interesting around here."

She frowns, they hardly looked at anything but she nods anyway, shrugging her shoulders "Sure."

They arrive back at the tent just in time to hear Ludo Bagman say: "Fancy a flutter on the match, Arthur? I've already got Roddy Pontner betting me Bulgaria will score first — I offered him nice odds, considering Ireland's front three are the strongest I've seen in years — and little Agatha Timms has put up half shares in her eel farm on a week-long match."

Elliot's grey eyes light up, looking like a little boy of Christmas Morning "Ooh, we're betting now? This should be fun!"

"It'll be so very." Aurelia says sarcastically.

Aurelia doesn't even have to look at the twins' faces to know they're sporting similar expressions.

Aurelia enjoys herself a good bet, but a bet with Ludo Bagman? _Yeah, no thanks_. She'll pass.

"Oh, go on then, let's see . . . A Galleon on Ireland to win?" Arthur says.

"Only a Galleon?" Ludo says, sounding disappointed, "Very well, very well . . . Any other takers?"

"They're a bit young to be gambling, Molly wouldn't like —" Arthur says worriedly.

Fred cuts him off "We'll bet thirty-seven Galleons, fifteen Sickles, three Knuts! That Ireland wins — but Viktor Krum gets the Snitch. Oh and we'll throw in a fake wand!"

Her eyebrows raise, _they're not serious_! _They're gonna give all their savings to this shady bitch without a second thought_?!

He and George pool all their money for Ludo to take, Aurelia goes to protest but she's cut of by Percy who hisses: "You don't want to go showing Mr. Bagman rubbish like that —"

Ludo lets out a roar of laughter, finding the fake wand to be quite amusing.

"They're not rubbish! They're brilliant!" Aurelia scolds Percy.

"That doesn't mean they have to show it to Mr. Bagman." Percy retorts.

"They mean no harm!" Aurelia hisses.

"It's embarrassing!" Percy hisses right back.

"It's not you're just melodramatic!"

"Excellent! I haven't seen one that convincing in years! I'd pay five Galleons for that!" Ludo laughs loudly

Percy's eyes go wide and Aurelia shoots him an 'I-told-you-so' look.

"Boys," Arthur says under his breath, "I don't want you betting. That's all your savings. Your mother —"

"Don't be a spoilsport, Arthur! They're old enough to know what they want! You reckon Ireland will win but Krum'll get the Snitch? Not a chance, boys, not a chance . . . I'll give you excellent odds on that one . . . We'll add five Galleons for the funny wand —"

"Fake wand." Aurelia corrects, giving him a dirty look

Ludo glances at her and his eyes go wide with terror but he quickly recovers himself, clearing his throat and whipping out a notebook and quill to write down the twins' names.

Arthur looks helplessly to Mae who pats him on the back but makes no move to stop the twins.

Aurelia wants to stop them but she knows there's no use, they've made up their minds. She has a very bad feeling that Ludo is either going to rip them off or not pay them back at all if they win. She can easily solve that problem though, she can easily pay them back without them knowing. Aurelia'll just need Ludo's signature and maybe a little note from him. She's not going to let them lose this money.

She puts a pretty little smile on her face and turns to Ludo Bagman, she bats her eyelashes as she asks: "Mr. Bagman, sir, could you perhaps sign this for me?"

Aurelia pulls out a crumbled piece of paper from the pocket of her yellow jumper "And could you perhaps write ' _the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog_ ' above it, it's my favourite quote from, uh, my favourite book _To Kill a Mockingbird_. It'd mean a lot coming from my favourite Quidditch player!"

Ludo smiles politely at her, nodding his head and taking the paper from her.

" _To Kill a Mocking bird_ , huh? That's a popular Muggle's book, isn't it . . . Do you like Muggles?"

Aurelia narrows her eyes, knowing exactly what Ludo means by this.

"Yes." She replies stiffly.

He finishes the signature and hands the paper back to her "That's surprising considering your —"

"I am not my family, Bagman! I am my own person who doesn't like being told who she is or what she can like or do." Aurelia snaps bitingly, glaring murderously at him.

She turns on her heel.

Aurelia smirks to herself, _thanks for the note, bitch, it'll make an excellent forgery_.

"Couldn't do me a brew, I suppose?" Ludo asks, moving away from Aurelia with a nervous look on his face, "I'm keeping an eye out for Barty Crouch. My Bulgarian opposite number's making difficulties, and I can't understand a word he's saying. Barty'll be able to sort it out. He speaks about a hundred and fifty languages."

"Mr. Crouch? He speaks over two hundred! Mermish and Gobbledegook and Troll!" Percy says excitedly.

"Anyone can speak Troll, all you have to do is point and grunt." Fred says dismissively.

Aurelia covers her mouth to stop herself from laughing, Percy gives him a nasty glare as he tries to bring the kettle to boil over the fire.

"Any news of Bertha Jorkins yet, Ludo?" Arthur asks.

"Not a dicky bird, but she'll turn up. Poor old Bertha . . . Memory like a leaky cauldron and no sense of direction. Lost, you take my word for it. She'll wander back into the office sometime in October, thinking it's still July."

"You don't think it might be time to send someone to look for her?" Arthur suggests tentatively.

"Barty Crouch keeps saying that," Ludo says.

"Then, maybe, I don't know I could be wrong, maybe you should do that?" Aurelia suggests sarcastically.

Percy gives her a look of mild approval but hushes her all the same.

"— But, we really can't spare anyone at the moment. Oh — speak of the devil! Barty!"

Aurelia glances over her shoulder to see that Barty Crouch had apparated by the fireside and he doesn't look very pleased.

"Pull up a bit of grass, Barty," Ludo says brightly, patting the ground beside him.

"No thank you, Ludo," Barty says, sounding slightly impatient, "I've been looking for you everywhere. The Bulgarians are insisting we add another twelve seats to the Top Box."

"Oh, is that what they're after?" Ludo questions, "I thought the chap was asking to borrow a pair of tweezers. Bit of a strong accent."

"When you said he was daft, I didn't think you meant that daft." Aurelia whispers to Percy, who either doesn't hear her or ignores her, as he bows awkwardly in front of Barty.

"Mr. Crouch! Would you like a cup of tea?" Percy asks breathlessly.

"Oh, "Yes . . . Thank you, Weatherby." Barty replies, looking at Percy in mild surprise.

Aurelia scowls at Barty "He's been working for you —"

Percy stabs her in the ribs with his bony elbow, giving her a glare before he busies himself with the kettle, his face bright pink.

So, Aurelia does her best to swallow her rant, instead settling with snapping: "It's Weasley." at Barty Crouch.

"Oh!" Barty says but than turns to Arthur and says: I've been wanting a word with you too, Arthur. Ali Bashir's on the warpath. He wants a word with you about your embargo on flying carpets."

Arthur heaves a deep sigh.

Elliot leans over and whispers in her ear "I can show you the world."

Aurelia lets out a bark of laughter and quickly covers her mouth to muffle her uncontrollable giggles.

"Shining, shimmering, splendid." Elliot whispers agains.

"St — st — stop." She wheezes.

He leans down to her ear and sings quietly: "A whole new wooorld . . . Cup."

* * *

The time draws near for the World Cup and they start making their way to the stadium. Aurelia bounces on the heels of her feet as she walks beside Mae.

Behind them, a girl with a German accent speaks up "Your hair, izt very pretty!"

Aurelia looks over her shoulder, brown eyes landing on a very pretty girl — possibly a Veela or part Veela — the pretty girl's got olive-toned skin and heavily-lidded eyes, she's tall and radiated this weird feeling of power. There's a smirk on the girl's wine-coloured lips that makes her look as sly as a fox.

"Are — are you talk — talking a — about me?" Aurelia stammers.

The girl giggles "Ja, I'm talking about you. You're zee the prettiest girl, I've zeen all day."

Aurelia laughs loudly, trying to hide her blushing face in the neck of her yellow jumper.

"Thank you."

The girl laughs as well "'Ou are very velcome . . . I'm Noelle Edwyn Godwin. 'Ou are you?"

"I'm Aurelia Black, are you from Durmstrang?"

"Ja, are you from Hogvarts?"

"Yes."

Noelle smirks "Tell me, are all zee gurls from there zis beautiful?"

Aurelia turns bright red.

Noelle's flirting with her? Aurelia's rather certain she is. Noelle's called her pretty twice in under five minutes. That's _definitely_ flirting! _Sweet Merlin_!

 _A pretty girl is actually flirting with me_!

"That's what Hogwarts is known for. Well, that and imminent danger." Aurelia says, giving Noelle a teasing smile.

Noelle picks up her pace so she can walk beside Aurelia "I've heard zat zey put zeir students into veird little houzes. Vy vould zey make zo many houzes for zeir schudents?"

Aurelia laughs "Oh! No, no! It's not like you think, there's only four houses! They use a hat to sort us into them . . . The hat also sings."

Noelle looks enthralled with every word that Aurelia's saying, she bites her lip and lets out a little giggle, brushing her shoulder against Aurelia's lightly.

Aurelia can feel Mae's eyes burning into the back of her neck. _Oh, shit_! She must not like what Aurelia's doing.

But Noelle's far too pretty not to flirt with especially since Noelle started the flirting.

"Und vat houze are you in?" Noelle asks sweetly.

"Hufflepuff!" Aurelia replies with pride.

Something flashes in Noelle's eyes but then she giggles: "Hufflepuff makes me vink of a marshmallow!"

Aurelia giggles, staring at Noelle intently.

" _Soft and squash-able! Pathetic_!" A raspy woman's voice spits faintly.

Before Aurelia can look for the voice that she recognises somewhat, Noelle asks: "Vat team are 'ou rooting for?"

"Oh! I'm not really sure, I'm mostly here just to watch the game! Are you rooting for any team in particular?"

"Bulgaria, ov course!" Noelle replies, flashing a Bulgarian flag pin on her navy, blue cloak.

"Ooh, my cousin's supporting them! He's definitely rooting for Krum, I think Krum's cool, he's an amazing seeker."

"Ja, he's great!" Noelle agrees, "Vell, Aurelia Black, I must go now, I have to go vind my friends, ve got separated. May ve meet again, pretty gurl!"

Aurelia smiles, blushing. They probably won't but she hopes they do.

"Bye, Noelle, it was wonderful meeting you."

"Likevise." Noelle says, placing a polite kiss on her cheek."

"Wow." Aurelia mumbles breathlessly as she watches Noelle jog off to find her friends.

Once Noelle's out of hearing range, Mae clears her throat and asks: "What was that about?"

Dread courses through Aurelia's veins. _Shit_. Mae's going to be so mad that you like girls — _she might even kick you out_!

 _She's going to be disgusted by you like they were by your scars_!

"What was what about?" Aurelia squeaks out, her attempt at sounding casual fails miserably.

Mae gives her a blank stare "Ye know —"

"OH! WOW!" Aurelia yells, thanking her lucky stars that a bit of the stadium can be seen through the trees, "Guess we're here! Better go and catch up with the others!"

Aurelia quickly scampers away from Mae to catch up with the Weasleys.

"This discussion isn't over!" Mae calls after her, sighing.

Mae's always suspected that Aurelia likes girls, starting with Pansy Parkinson to the way she talks about Hermione Granger, to just now with that German girl. She's almost as obvious as Elliot is. But, her friendship with Neville Longbottom, often makes it hard for Mae to know for sure.

If Aurelia does like girls then Mae's not going to allow her to feel like she has to hide it.

Mae's not going to allow history to repeat itself.

* * *

"Prime seats!" The Ministry witch had said, "Straight to the top!" She had said.

"Holy mother of fucking tits!" Aurelia had said because there's so many god damn fucking stairs.

Now, let's get this straight, Aurelia's not lazy, it should just be illegal to have this many stairs.

 _Could they not have charmed the stairs to move like those Muggle Escalator things_?

Aurelia turns to the closest Weasley who happens to be, Percy.

"Percy, please —"

"No." He says flatly not even daring to look at her.

Aurelia turns to Bill with her puppy dog eyes.

"Fine, hop on." Bill sighs.

"Don't mind if I do!" Aurelia says with a grin, jumping on Bill's back.

"Thanks, Willy Billy, I owe ya one!"

"Please, never call me that again."

When they finally reach the Top Box, she jumps down from Bill's back and thanks him profusely.

She goes to open her satchel to give him some money but he stops her.

"No," He laughs with a shake of his head "That'd be like me carrying Ginny all the way up here and expecting money from her."

"Oh, okay." Aurelia mumbles.

They file into the first row of purple chairs. Aurelia sits in between Fred and George, Elliot sits on George's other side. The three boys start to talk about the impending Quidditch match.

"Dobby." Harry questions suddenly and Aurelia turns in her seat to look around the Top Box, curious to see if her old House-Elf is there.

"Did sir just call me, Dobby?" A high-pitched voice squeaks out, it's clearly not Dobby.

"Sorry, I just thought you were someone I knew." Harry apologises.

"But, I knows Dobby too, sir! My name is Winky, sir — and you, sir — You is surely Harry Potter!"

"Yeah, I am." Harry replies.

"But Dobby talks of you all the time, sir!" Winky tells him.

"How is he? How's freedom suiting him?" Harry asks.

"Ah, sir, meaning no disrespect, sir, but I is not sure you did Dobby a favour, sir, when you is setting him free." Winky squeaks mournfully.

Aurelia scoffs, Harry had done Dobby a huge favour freeing him from the Malfoys. He wasn't treated well there, the Malfoys never treated any of their House-Elves well.

Even Aurelia hadn't treated them nicely, she wasn't as bad as her parents but she wasn't someone their House-Elves would feel safe around.

She's ashamed of herself but she's changed. She's a better person now.

Fred nudges her shoulder, bluntly asking: "Are you gonna kiss Longbottom this year, Blue?"

"Wh — what?" Aurelia splutters, face turning bright red, "Why would you — you ask that?"

George grins "Well, you see we have this bet with Lee —"

Aurelia sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose "Of course, you do!"

"— That you're gonna be the one to kiss ickle Longbottom this year whereas Lee says Longbottom's gonna be the one to kiss you." Fred laughs.

"So, uh, do us a teensy, weensy favour and be the one to kiss him." Elliot suggests nonchalantly.

Aurelia chokes on her spit but quickly recovers.

"Uh, what makes you say that either of us are going to kiss the other?" Aurelia questions cooly, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh, literally everything you do together." Elliot counters.

"You and George pretty much do the same thing!"

"That's because we're dating — oh, shit!" Elliot says then clamps a hand over his mouth.

Luckily no one outside their little group had heard. Aurelia stares at Elliot then George; honestly, she's not that surprised. The two weren't exactly subtle now that she thinks about it.

"We haven't told anyone, outside Fred and Lee." Elliot says quietly, "Not because we don't want anyone to know but because we don't really see the big deal as coming out as a couple.

George grins "That and we're waiting for the perfect moment to kiss in front of everyone as though it's no big deal and see just how many people go 'we fucking knew it!'"

"Everyone's going to do that." Aurelia tells them pointedly, "You and Ellie'll be the only thing Mae and Molly'll get along about."

Elliot snorts "Nah, they'll still fight over us . . . As much as Molly loves me, I highly doubt she'll want her son dating someone with a half-finished Dark-Mark on their wrist."

They fall silent, Elliot stares dejectedly at his wrist and Fred, George, and Aurelia are at a loss as to what to say.

" . . . Ah, and here's Lucius!" Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, announces.

Aurelia's blood runs cold. She knew they'd be there, Draco had told her himself while offering her a ticket but she already had one. Still, Aurelia can feel her anxiety building. Does that stop her from looking over at them? No.

Draco spots her, and much to her surprise, he smiles "Lia, glad to —"

Lucius places a hand on Draco's shoulder and he falls silent.

" . . . Or our son, Draco." Lucius says softly.

"How do you do? How do you do?" Fudge asks, smiling and bowing to Narcissa and Draco.

Aurelia glances at her dad, he doesn't glare at her like she's the scum of the Earth but merely nods at her, Narcissa looks away from her, a faint look of nervousness and guilt cross her features, and Draco smiles at her again, though not as enthusiastically as before.

" . . . And let's see who else — you know Arthur Weasley, I daresay?" Fudge asks her father.

Aurelia sighs and closes her eyes, _someone's about to go through the Top Box window_ , Aurelia thinks, _I'd put money on dad being the one to go_.

There's a very tense moment as her dad stares down Arthur, both men are probably imagining throttling the other as they stare at each other.

"Good lord, Arthur. What did you have to sell to get seats in the Top Box? Surely your house wouldn't have fetched this much?" Lucius says softly.

Aurelia groans, internally rooting for Arthur to punch her dad in the face.

Cornelius Fudge babbles on about a donation that the Malfoys made to St. Mungo's Hospital which confuses and angers her. Her father never spoke well of that hospital so why donate it. Had he really done it out of the goodness of his heart?

She hopes so but she highly doubts it. When she had been attacked by that werewolf her parents had refused to take her there — sometimes she can't help but wonder if her mum and dad wanted her to succumb to her injuries but, that's besides the point — saying he didn't want them to know what happened and that most of the Healers there are incompetent.

"He's here as my guest." Fudge says.

"How very." Aurelia mutters sarcastically, turning around in her seat.

Sometimes, she just wishes her family could be genuinely nice.

Ludo charges into the box, exclaiming: "Everyone ready? Minister — ready to go?"

"Ready when you are, Ludo," Fudge replies.

Ludo places his wand at his throat.

Aurelia cringes when she realises that forgot to bring earplugs.

A wrapper hits the back of her head, she turns around to see Draco mouthing "Forgot something, dumbass? Catch."

She raises an eyebrow, _you're the one to talk mister. I-forgot-to-pack-the-night-before-Hogwarts_ , but she holds out her hand he tosses a package of earplugs at her which she catches easily.

"Thank you." She mouths back, putting in the earplugs just as Ludo casts a spell on himself.

Then sounding as though he's using an extra loud megaphone, Ludo announces: "Ladies and gentlemen . . . Welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty-second Quidditch World Cup!"

"And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce . . . The Bulgarian National Team Mascots!"

"I wonder what they've brought," Arthur wonders, leaning forward in his seat, "Aaah! Veela!"

Aurelia looks down at the field as a hundred or so Veela came out.

"Holy shit!" Aurelia mumbles in awe, she never really knew just how beautiful Veela are.

They start to dance Aurelia quickly looks away knowing just what will happen if she continues to gawk at them. She'll do something stupid, that's what.

"And now, kindly put your wands in the air . . . For the Irish National Team Mascots!" Ludo roars.

A green and gold comet flies over the stadium and maybe if the Irish had gone first, Aurelia might've found it more entertaining but she finds herself drawn back over to the Veela.

Aurelia can feel Mae's burning gaze on the back of her neck and she knows she should really look away before Mae can realise there's something _wrong_ with her. But she doesn't look away until she hears Ludo scream "They're off!"

And the game begins.

She can hardly keep up with the game mostly because part of her brain's screaming in panic over the fact that Mae might suspect she likes girls.

If only she hadn't flirted back with Noelle, if only she had been more subtle about then maybe Mae wouldn't be staring at her like this.

"Fingers in your ears!" Arthur bellows as the Veelas start to dance again.

Although Aurelia's already got earplugs in, she clamps her hands over her ears for good measure.

"Dimitrov! Levski! Dimitrov! Ivanova — oh I say!" Bagman roars.

The crowd gasps as the two Seekers, Krum and Lynch, plummet through the center of the Chasers, so fast that it looks as though they had just jumped from aeroplanes without parachutes.

"They're going to crash!" Hermione screams.

Only one does, Viktor Krum pulls up at the last second leaving Aidan Lynch to crash into the ground with a dull thud.

"Fool!" Arthur moans, "Krum was feinting!"

"It's time-out!" Ludo anounces, as trained mediwizards hurry onto the field to examine the injured seeker.

It doesn't take long for Lynch to be healed and he's back up in the air in no time. The game resumes much more brutal than before.

Then finally the most exciting moment of the night, Lynch spots the Snitch and dives for it.

"He's seen the Snitch!" Harry shouts.

"They're going to crash!" Hermione shrieks as Lynch dives towards the ground, Krum hot on his tail.

"They're not!" Ron roars.

"Lynch is!" Aurelia and Harry shout and they're right.

Yet again, Lynch crashes into the ground and then he's immediately trampled by a herd of very angry Veela.

"Where's the Snitch?!" Charlie bellows.

"Krum's got it — it's all over!" Harry shouts.

Indeed, Krum's got the Snitch but his team didn't win.

"IRELAND WINS!" Ludo shouts excitedly, "KRUM GETS THE SNITCH —a BUT IRELAND WINS — good lord, I don't think any of us were expecting that!"

Fred and George jump out of their seat, screaming in victory.

 _They won their bet_ , Aurelia realises, _and that shady bitch better pay them back_!

Elliot jumps up, hugging George and giving him a quick kiss. Fred picks up Aurelia and swings her around, gleefully shouting: "We won! We won! We won!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aurelia is a Chaotic Bi Disaster whomst we love and support annnd Perciver is a thing™ up in this bitch, Also no surprise there but George and Elliot are a thing, they were a thing in the OG but they just kinda came out of nowhere and their ship was a mess so I fixed that! yeet yet! So for the LGBT+ community, they're pretty much accepted (at least more so than they are in the Muggle world, especially back in that time) throughout the wizarding community but there are people who don't accept them (mainly wealthy, large Pureblood families so that's why sexuality is a bit more open for Wizards to talk about! Noelle will be back and she may or not be Aurelia's possible love interest (how y'all feel about that?) Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! I'd really like to know what you thought of it so if you want you should let me know!


	9. | VII: ❝Panic! at the World Cup❞

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! Ya girl got a new keyboard so now I can finally type up the two hundred pages I have written down! This chapter is going to be wild, Patrick, WILD! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the chapter, please leave a review letting me know what you thought of it, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated!

**CHAPTER vii** ** _!_**  
Panic! at the World Cup

* * *

 

" **DON'T TELL YOUR MOTHER YOU** ' **VE BEEN GAMBLING**." Arthur says to Fred and George, his tone on the verge of begging.

"Don't worry, dad!" Fred says gleefully, "We've got big plans for this money, we don't want it confiscated."

Arthur opens his mouth to ask exactly what they've got planned but then promptly shut his mouth, deciding it's best he doesn't know.

Aurelia laughs at the expression on Arthur's face.

She's sitting on Fred's shoulder this time as they descend the purple-carpeted stairs.

"What's so funny, Blue?" Fred asks.

"Oh, nothing!" She giggles, shaking her head.

They soon get caught up in the crowds that are leaving the stadium as well. The loud screaming, singing, and chatter causes Aurelia to grow tense.

Too loud and too crowded, she feels trapped and she feels like she's being watched. Aurelia's too afraid to turn around, afraid that she'll see that woman again.

 _She can't be here_ , Aurelia tells herself, _she's dead_.

Still, Aurelia can't bring herself to look over her shoulder.

"I'm not going to drop you, Blue!" Fred chuckles, "You can loosen your grip, you'll be fine. I've got you."

"Oh." Aurelia mumbles, relaxing her hold.

 _Fred's right_ , _you're perfectly fine_ , Aurelia thinks to herself, pushing the feeling that somebody's watching her to the back of her mind.

She should've turned around and then maybe, just maybe she might've seen that she's indeed being watched.

Amidst the celebrating crowd stand a raven-haired woman that neither fits in or stands out, she's staring at Aurelia with a murderous expression.

"I'll get you just yet, Little Wolfie, I'll make you pay." She mutters, dark blue eyes full of rage.

* * *

The walk back to their tent is filled with excited chatter about the game they had just watched.

Ron and Elliot are, unsurprisingly, ranting and raving about Viktor Krum. Fred and George share a look, before they begin to taunt Ron and Elliot.

"There's no one like Krum!" Ron exclaims.

"Krum?" Fred echoes in a funny voice.

"Dumb Krum!" George says in the same funny voice.

Elliot and Ron glare at the twins.

"He's like a bird!" Ron compliments fiercely, "The way he flies!"

The twins pretend to be birds as they circle around Ron. Aurelia and the other laugh at the scene but their laughter is drowned out by Fred's obnoxious bird calls.

"He's more than an athlete —"

"Is he a Brain then? Or a Princess? Or a Criminal? Ooh, or is he a Basketcase?" Aurelia taunts.

Ron doesn't get it, so he glares at her, Elliot rolls his eyes at her lame Muggle reference.

"He's an artist!" Ron hisses at Aurelia.

Aurelia doubles over laughing, that's the most dramatic thing Aurelia's heard anyone say about someone else ever.

This is coming from the girl who once spent twenty minutes describing Neville's eyes to Neville, himself, when he had described them as a plain, boring, brown colour — Aurelia _might've_ had crush on Neville longer than she realised because that was back in second year. _Whoops_.

"I think you're in love, Ron." Ginny teases.

"Piss off!" Ron snaps, scowling at her.

"Viktor, I love you! Viktor, I do! When we're apart my heart beats only for you!" Fred and George sing loudly as they wrap Ron and Elliot in the Ireland flag.

"Alright kids, settle down." Arthur says, handing out mugs hot cocoa.

Aurelia takes hers eagerly "Thank you, Mr. Weasley!"

"Arthur!"

"Thank you, Mr. Arthur!"

She grins at him and he sighs exasperated as he turns to Ginny and gives her a mug.

"After this, we're all going to bed, we've got a lot to do tomorrow." Arthur tells the lot of them.

They all groan in agreement though none of them are the least bit tired.

Sipping on their hot cocoa, Elliot and Ron continue to fiercely defend Viktor Krum from the twins while the older kids have a heated debate with, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny.

Mae sits slightly behind Aurelia, brushing her blue curls and occasionally butting into the discussion in front of them. But, for the most part she watches Aurelia worriedly.

It's not until Ginny falls asleep at the table, spilling her hot cocoa everywhere does Arthur send them all to their beds.

* * *

Aurelia doesn't fall asleep. She's tired as hell but no matter how hard she tries to fall asleep she can't.

She's never slept in a tent before but she hates it.

Everything's got her on edge, she feels exposed.

Every little snap of branch or a shadow passing the tent, sends her further into a panicked frenzy.

Aurelia thinks about crawling into bed with Mae but she's a little too scared to move and she doesn't want Mae to think she's annoying or weak.

After all, she should be over this by now, it's been nearly five years since that happened. The werewolf is dead, her dad killed her. She's safe she's got nothing to worry about —

 _What if it's Greyback_?

 _No_ , Aurelia tells herself, _no, why would he want me? Dad said that the woman was just delusional because of the full moon. Greyback wants nothing to do me. . . You've got nothing to worry about_.

 _You're safe_ , she reassures herself as she tries to steady her breathing.

Greyback's not dumb enough to set foot on British soil let alone go to a fully packed Quidditch game with loads of Ministry workers.

 _You're safe, you're safe, you're_ —

A shrill scream echoes through the night.

 _You're about to die, you're about to die, you're about to die_.

Aurelia lifts her head up and glances around the tent, no one else stirs and maybe, just maybe that scream had been in her head. It had to of been, the others would've woken up, wouldn't they?

She grips her sheets tightly, her blood running cold despite her efforts to calm her self. _Something is wrong_.

Then comes another scream and Aurelia knows it's not in her head because Maeve hears it to.

Maeve sits up quickly and glances over at Aurelia, concern written all over her dainty features.

"Did ye have a —

A third scream.

Mae's eyes widen in horror as she gets out of her bed and stumbles over to Hermione and Ginny.

 _Something's wrong, oh, Merlin! Something's terribly wrong_.

The faint smell of something burning fills Aurelia's nose and she feels sick.

"Hermione, Ginerva wake —"

Mae's cut off by another shrill scream that sounds as if it's right outside their tent.

She shakes the girls awake as the screaming becomes more frequent "Get up and get yer shoes on!" Mae says urgently.

Aurelia practically dives for her shoes as Mae goes to look outside the tent "Arthur! Art — oh, Merlin!"

She turns to the younger girls and tells them "Hurry up!"

"What's going on?" Ginny asks, confused and terrified.

"Death-Eaters." Mae replies, "I think they're goin' after Muggles . . . Hurry — OH!"

Arthur comes bursting into their tent "Wake up! Wake — oh! Come on then!" Arthur exclaims, grabbing Ginny and Hermione, who are pulling on their shoes.

"We need to get to the woods, it's not safe out here." He says urgently.

Mae grabs onto Aurelia and pulls her out of the tent, the others follow after them.

It's mass chaos outside, tents are on fire, there are literally people up in the air, screaming bloody murder, as Death-Eaters on the ground controlled them.

Aurelia's terrified as she huddles into Mae's side, that is until she hears a little boy wailing, she looks up to see a little blond boy no older than five in the air, struggling to get down.

She's filled with rage as her eyes land on the Death-Eater controlling him. It's a woman, she can see the Death-Eater's wild raven curls and she can hear her shrill cackle as the little boy screams for help.

 _Aunt Bellatrix_! She thinks but quickly dismisses it, _there's no way she got out of Azkaban, that's not Bellatrix_.

Still, the fact the woman reminds her of Aunt Bellatrix only makes her angrier.

"Hey!" Aurelia screams fiercely, "Hey! Let him —"

She tries to go after the Death-Eater but Mae pulls her back, exclaiming: "Aurelia are ye mad?! Ye wouldn't stand a chance against a Death-Eater, let the professionals handle it!"

Her green eyes are wide and fearful as she stares up at Aurelia, holding the younger girl in place.

"Don't!" Mae says firmly and Aurelia nods her head, glancing over the boys, Fred, George, Harry, and Ron are looking around, seemingly just as scared as she is.

"We're going to help the Ministry! You lot get to the woods, I'll come and fetch you when we've sorted this out!" Arthur tells them as he, Percy, Charlie, and Bill rush forward to help the floating Muggles.

"C'mon!" Fred yells, grabbing ahold of Ginny's hand and dragging her toward the trees. The others follow suit, Mae holds tightly onto Aurelia's arm as they run after the twins.

They don't get very far as Mae suddenly halts, her eyes widening in fear as she yelps: "Elliot!"

Aurelia realises, horrified, the he hadn't been with the other boys.

 _Shit, shit, shit_! She thinks, _leave it to Ellie to sleep through something like this_.

"Aurelia, listen to me carefully, okay, get to those trees and find the others, and stay there until I come back with Ellie." Mae instructs.

Aurelia nods, holding back a sob.

Mae smiles weakly, pressing a kiss to her forehead and muttering: "Good girl."

Then she runs back towards the tents, Aurelia hesitates for a moment before turning on her heel and running for the trees.

When she comes to stop, the twins, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, nor Harry are in sight. Either she had went in completely different direction they had or they went further into the woods then she had.

"Fred! Hermione!" She yells out, her lower lip trembling.

She gets no response.

"Ron, Ginny! George!" She yells, sobbing.

Still, no response.

She's scared and alone and on the verge of a panic attack.

 **SNAP**!

Aurelia yelps and jumps toward the sound of a snapping branch, there's a faint chuckle and she pulls her wand out of her jumper pocket, point.

"Who — who's there?!" Aurelia yells.

 **SNAP**!

A branch snaps behind her and she whirls around, pointing her wand in the general area in which the sound came from.

"Lumos!"

Nothing's there.

 **SNAP**!

The sound is to her left this time, Aurelia chokes back a sob.

 **SNAP**!

It's on her right.

 **SNAP**! **SNAP**! **SNAP**! **SNAP**! **SNAP**! **SNAP**! **SNAP**!

The sound of branches breaking is all around, circling her like a predator stalking its' prey.

Aurelia can hardly breathe, she's so scared. She's half-expecting that woman, that werewolf to come through the trees.

"BOO! GUESS WHO?!" A woman's voice shrieks in her ear, laughing madly.

Aurelia barely has time to scream when the woman stuns her. The spell has enough force to send Aurelia flying into the nearest tree, hitting it with a harsh thud.

"FUCK!" Aurelia screams in pain, tears burning her eyes as she struggles to pull herself to her knees. She grips her wand in her had as she fights to catch her breath, when she had hit the tree, it had knocked all the air from her lungs.

Aurelia looks up at the woman who had attack her, it's Gwendoline fucking Goyle.

 _Oh, fuck_! _Oh, I'm so dead_!

Gwendoline smiles at Aurelia, a smile that makes her skin crawl.

She can see the hatred in Gwenodline's eyes. As far back as she can remember, Gwendoline's always hated her, the few memories she has of the woman all basically include either _a.)_ Gwendoline glaring at her as though she's the spawn of Satan _b.)_ Gwendoline trying to maim, seriously injure, and possibly trying to kill her, and _c.)_ both of those events combined.

"Remember me, Little Wolfie?" Gwendoline taunts.

Aurelia swallows thickly, watching the Death-Eater stalk forward ever so slowly. She presses her aching back into the trunk of tree she had slammed into. Aurelia feels like a caged animal despite having her wand, her mind in blanking and she can't think of any good spells to use against her.

Gwendoline must think she's unarmed as she continues to taunt Aurelia in a high-pitched baby voice.

"Bella's not here to save you now, Little Wolfie . . . No one's here to save you, not even that Squib whore, you're all on your own. A whimpering, pathetic mutt with no one to come and rescue you."

Gwendoline dark grey eyes are alight with excitement, her short wand pointed at Aurelia, shaking wildly as she rambles on.

"I've waited years for this and now I'm finally going to have you screaming for mercy at my feet like the weak, filthy mutt you are. You'll be begging for the sweet release of death once I'm finished with you and I'll gladly give it to you . . . I'm finally going to make you pay!" Gwendoline laughs madly, her gaunt face twisted with malice.

"For what?! What could I have possibly done to you? I was just a baby the last time you were around, did I spit up on you or something?" Aurelia snaps sarcastically, her wand gripped tightly in her hand and she waits for the perfect moment to strike.

But, she doesn't get one as Gwendoline's finished with her dramatic monologue. The Death-Eater raises her wand quicker than a flash of lightning and squeals "Cru — CIO!"

Aurelia swears she's been set on fire, she screams out in agony as every part of her body feels like it's being pierced with sharp, hot knives.

"Mae — M — MUM!" She screams, digging her nails into the damp Earth, "N — n — no! St — st — STOP! AR — ARTHUR HELP! PL — PLEASE!"

Gwendoline's practically beside herself with laughter as she lifts the curse.

"You're pathetic! And weak, just like your mother!" Gwendoline barks, grinning like mad as she skips over to Aurelia. Her voice is raspy as she says that and Aurelia recalls hearing her earlier when talking to that German girl. It seems that Gwendoline's been watching her all night, maybe all day as well.

Gwendoline pulls Aurelia to her knees and spits in her face "You — you ruined her! You — you and that — that boy!"

"STUPEFY!" Aurelia screams, putting all her strength in that spell.

It's not as strong as the one she was hit with but considering Aurelia's weak, in pain, and it's her first time using that spell, it does a good enough job.

It shocks Gwendoline enough to let go of her and stumble backwards a bit and that's all that Aurelia needs.

Aurelia pulls herself to her feet, shakily, and takes off running but she doesn't get very far as Gwendoline's quick to recover.

She stumbles past the tree line, her goal's to get close enough for a Ministry worker to either see or hear her.

"Help! He — help me!" Aurelia screams.

Gwendoline's gaining on her and Aurelia tries to run faster but she's so weak, her legs are aching so badly.

"CRUCIO!"

The spell hits her square in the back and she falls to her feet screaming in agony.

"HEL — HELP M — ME!"

"Pathetic." Gwendoline laughs as she kicks Aurelia in the chest, "But, I do love it when the put up a fight. It makes it all the more entertaining!"

Aurelia, despite feeling like she's on the verge of death, tries to crawl away from her. Gwendoline cackles at the sight, enjoying every scream that leaves the bitch's mouth.

She's not going to get away this time. Neither Lucius or Bellatrix is here to save ickle Aurelia Alice Black. Gwendoline's got her now, she's finally going to get to kill the disgusting mutt.

"HELP!"

Gwendoline giggles "Do you actually think that someone's going to —"

"Aurelia?!"

It's Percy! _Oh, thank Merlin_! Someone heard her.

"Per — per — Percy! Be — be careful, it's Goy — Goyle, she —"

She's cut off by Gwendoline who kicks her in the face.

Aurelia howls in pain, her nose breaks with a sickeningly loud snap and blood goes gushing down her face.

She hears three sets of footsteps approaching quickly.

"Aurelia?! Are you — she's over here! Bill! Charlie! I found her!"

"Perdy! Be Carebul — Goyle —"

"CRUCIO!"

"Shit, Bill! It's Goyle! Percy, be careful — Percy, no!"

Aurelia struggles to lift her head, _where's Percy_? _Is he alright_?

 _God, it hurts_!

Her face is wet with her tears and blood and she's in so much pain, so — _Merlin, please — God, make it stop — kill me_!

She wants to die; dying would be so much better than this pain — _oh, God! Please, just let it end_!

Aurelia screams, her shaking hands tear at the wet grass as she tries to pull herself away from Gwendoline, begging: "Please, st — stop!"

She's ignored.

"Leave, Weasley!" Gwendoline hisses, glancing at the redheaded boy that's quickly approaching her, "Leave, I'd hate to spill blood as pure as yours even if you're a traitor, just leave —"

"STUPEFY!" Percy bellows and Gwendoline gets thrown back a foot but she's quick to recover.

"Alarte Ascendare!" Gwendoline calls out and Percy yelps as he's tossed in the air.

Gwendoline looks annoyed as she giggles "Guess I'll have to make this quick, Little Wolfie — AVADA KEDAVRA!"

A bright flash of green light blinds Aurelia and she holds her breath, closing her eyes.

 _Oh, fuck, I'm dead_!

 _I'm dead and I'm still in pain! I can't believe God has the audacity to do this to me_!

Gwendoline giggles shrilly "THAT'S WHAT SHE GETS! I KILLED HER PRECIOUS WITTLE MOON!"

Charlie comes bursting to the trees "Percy, are you — Oh, Merlin. Percy?

Percy lets out a breathless scream "Au — Aurelia! No! No!"

Charlie looks at Aurelia's stiff, bloody body "Is — is she dead?"

Percy doesn't answer, launching himself at Aurelia's body, hysterically sobbing through gasps for breath.

When he collides with her body, she lets out an inaudible "Oof!"

The smells of burnt grass invades her nostrils.

 _I'm alive_! She realises, _praise Jesus! Hallelujah_!

Gwendoline's curse had missed her by barely an inch, the ground right by her nose had been singed upon impact. She had almost died.

Bill stumbles in Charlie "Where'd Goyle go, Charlie?! Where — Merlin, Aurelia . . . She's — She's dead?"

 _No_!

She tries moving but with Percy on top of her, she can barely move a muscle.

"I — I think so, Goyle ran off. She got away again." Charlie replies, sounding near tears.

"Percy g'it off!" Aurelia hisses weakly, he does so without hesitation letting out a horrified scream.

Aurelia tries to pull herself up but she's far too week, dark spots are dancing across her vision, she wants to go to sleep so, so badly.

"Merlin! She — She's alive!" Charlie gasps.

"H — h — how?" Percy splutters, looking both fearful and relieved.

"I'm a witch —" She says teasingly but weakly, "— wait."

 _Wait_ , that's a Muggle reference. She's not a Muggle.

"Oh." She mumbles, frowning.

"Percy, help her up, she's got to go to St. Mungo's! Who knows what Goyle's done to her." Charlie commands.

"I don't wanna go to St. Mungo's I wanna go to sleep." Aurelia whines, pouting.

"No!" Charlie roars, "Don't go to sleep and, uh — DON'T GO TOWARDS THE LIGHT!"

"What light?" Aurelia questions, confused.

Almost as if on cue a bright green light brightens the night sky and Charlie gasps in horror, so does Percy.

"Do you mean that light?" Aurelia wonders innocently.

"N — no." Bill stammers, "No, Percy take her to St. Mungo's. Once she's been checked in come right back, Charlie and I are going to find the others.

Percy helps her stand and quickly realises she's far too weak to stand on her own so he picks her up.

"Oh, I — I see how tis, you — you'll only pick m'up if I — beat dead." Aurelia slurs almost incoherently then promptly passes out.

* * *

Mae's searching around wildly, her left hand is burning and her body feels fuzzy. _Something's wrong with Aurelia_. She should've never left her alone.

Elliot's tugging on her arm, apologising profusely for what he had done but her mind's elsewhere.

Her daughter is in trouble, _she is hurt_.

They wander quickly through the trees but there's no sight of her.

"Mum!" Elliot cries desperately, "I am s — so sorry! I —"

Mae turns to him "Don't ye — don't. Ye didn't mean to, for now, let's put this behind us, we'll handle it tomorrow. We — we need to find Aurelia."

Elliot swallows thickly "Yeah — yeah, before Goyle does."

Mae freezes "She — she — that bitch is here?"

She knew it, _Aurelia's hurt_.

She's in danger.

"Yes, I saw her — she — I think she was looking for, Blue."

"Oh, God! Oh, God! What have I done?! I —"

"Auntie Mae!" Ginny's voice calls out from somewhere close by in the woods.

Ginny comes running towards them, the twins following right behind her.

Elliot rushes forward and hugs George.

"Where is Aurelia?" Mae asks, looking at the three Weasleys.

Fred and Ginny share confused looks.

"Where is she?! Where is _my_ daughter?!" Mae demands, tears stinging her eyes.

"We thought, well, we thought she was with you." Fred replies nervously.

"Oh, God." Mae sobs.

"She could be with Ron, Hermione, and Harry." Ginny supplies.

"Well, where are they?!"

"We . . . Don't exactly know."

"Well, that's loads of help." Mae snaps, hysterical.

"I'm sure Blue's fine." George says, looking away from Elliot.

At that moment, an older woman comes running through "A CHILD'S BEEN KILLED! A CHILD'S BEEN KILLED!"

"That's not her." Elliot tells Mae quickly, "She doesn't mean —"

Mae wails, her knees feel weak.

She's dead, Aurelia's dead. Oh, she can _feel_ it. Her daughter is dead, the one she vowed to protect is dead!

Bill comes running after the woman "Ma'am it — Aunt Mae! Oh, you're all pretty well here, thank —"

"Where's my daughter?!" Mae shrieks, lunging at Bill.

He frowns "Percy's —"

"Is she dead?! Has she really been killed?!"

"No, well, not exactly."

"What the bloody hell do you mean 'not exactly' what's happened?!" Mae cries, "Where is she, William?!"

"She was hit with the Killing Curse." Bill says and everyone goes still.

Mae's blood runs cold, her body feels even fuzzier and her left hand throbs.

"But, she's alive." He says after a moment's pause, looking quite unsure of himself and the events that had just unfolded.

"WHAT?!"

"HOW?!"

"It can't be —"

"HARRY SUR —"

"SHUT UP!" Mae screams over the kids' questions.

They do, looking both confused and mortified.

Bill continues "Goyle had ahold of her and was torturing her, Percy heard her screams and he ran off to go find Aurelia and Charlie and I followed him. Percy wasn't thinking and he run straight into a losing battle but Goyle had no interest in him and tossed him aside to kill Aurelia. Goyle hit her with the Killing Curse and Aurelia was still for a few moments but then she woke up . . . Percy's taken her to St. Mungo's —"

"I —"

"We have to find the others first, Aunt Mae, besides it's highly unlikely that they'll let you see her at the moment." Bill tells her, "My little brother and his friends are still out there and I need to find them, Aunt Mae, can you please take them back to our tent, I've been told that it's safe to go back now."

Mae nods numbly.

"Thank you, Aunt Mae, I promise I'll take you straight to Aurelia once the others have been found."

She nods again.

Dread fills her stomach.

She had promised _her_ that she would protect Aurelia.

Mae had failed.

 _She_ had worked so hard to keep Aurelia alive and safe. Their fourteen years of hard work had gone to hell in less than an hour.

Her daughter could be dead for all she knows and it's all her fault.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think Gwen's going on about, I would love to hear some theories? Oooh, almost forgot! Everyone give a warm welcome to Gwendoline Goyle a.k.a Bellatrix 2.0 but Much Worse™! This chapter (and the next chapter) are honestly my favourite I've written so far! Look at me already making Aurelia Suffer seven (7) chapters in,,, oopsie daisies! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! I'd really like to know what you thought of it so if you want you should let me know!


	10. | VIII: ❝Lost in Wonderland❞

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there, sorry I haven't updated in awhile, I don't really have much of an excuse except for I got caught up in writing the story that I forgot to publish the chapters I've written. I hope you enjoy this chapter because it's a wild ride full of lots of Sad Longbottom Family™ moments! I hope you enjoy the chapter, please leave a review letting me know what you thought of it, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated!

****

**CHAPTER viii ** _!_**  
** Lost in Wonderland

* * *

 

 **GWEN GOYLE** ' **S MANAGED TO ESCAPE YET AGAIN**. She's been running from the Ministry of Magic 1979, she had been caught twice but she had managed to escape both times, she always escapes.

That's what makes her the Dark-Lord's most valuable servant next to the Lestranges; no matter the situation, she can always escape. And she can just as easily infiltrate a place. It's the only thing she's good at doing besides serving her master.

"I killed her!" Gwen squeals as she dances around the Crouch residence.

"Not according to the paper you didn't!" Barty Jr. sings mockingly, "Now, hush, if my father hears your voice like that —"

Gwen doesn't heed his warning, letting out a shrill shriek as she rips the Daily Prophet away from his face "What do you mean, Crouch?!"

"Well, it says in the article that it was taken to St. Mungo's, badly wounded but alive. There's no word on it's exact condition but it's definitely not dead, Gwennie!"

"Are you fucking —"

Barty Jr. clamps a hand over her mouth "Be quiet, if my father hears you we're both screwed. You'll always have another chance at killing the dirty bitch." he assures her.

Gwen bites down on his hand, a murderous look in her dark brown eyes.

"I wanted it dead now!" Gwen snarls, "I've wanted it dead for fourteen bloody years and now that neither the Malfoys or Bella are around to protect it and the Ministry are —"

"You'll have plenty of time to play with it when Voldemort's back in power. Until then, you'll have Black on edge, it'll be constantly watching over their shoulder, always wondering when or if you're going to strike next." Barty Jr. says, smiling crazily at the raven-haired woman.

She returns the grin, enjoying the idea of the fear she'll be putting the brat in "That sounds lovely, Barty, oh! You should have heard how the pathetic bitch screamed, she's as weak as Bella." Gwen recalls, her eyes going wide with excitement.

Barty frowns "Bella wasn't weak! She was powerful, amazing! Need I remind you she took out Joseph MacDonald without help! She — She's wickedly talented and —"

"SHE ONLY DID IT FOR THAT THING!"

Keep quiet, Gwennie!" Barty Jr. hisses.

"Make me, besides, when I got here your father wasn't even around." Gwen scoffs, eyes flashing dangerously in the younger man's direction.

"Look, I know you're angry at Bella but Black was her family after all, sure she was a tad too protective over it but whatever the reason, Bellatrix still took out one of the major threats to our cause at the time. Her protectiveness will change once she knows what a filthy blood-traitor it has turned into. Bella'll help you put it into a grave."

Behind the insanity in Gwen's eyes there's a glimmer of hope as she smiles widely. Too widely to be natural, she lets out a low chuckle "Yeah . . . Yeah, it'll be like the good ole days . . . Bella and I used to have so much fun . . . But, I'll have much more fun watching the light leave Little Wolfie's eyes."

* * *

 **SCENES OF TERROR AT THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP**  
**_pg. 2 continued_** . . .

◤                                    ◥  
  
◣                                    ◢

 _— Among the chaos, wanted Death-Eater, Gwendoline Goyle (_ **_pictured above_ ** _) was spotted. How she managed to slip past the security is unknown, she was only only spotted after the initial attack on the Muggles. Unlike her other fellow Death-Eaters, Goyle was not involved with the Muggle attacks, instead she was found torturing, Aurelia Malfoy, who now resides at St. Mungo's with no word on her current condition._

_Aurelia Malfoy, a fourteen-year-old Hogwarts student, attending the Quidditch World Cup was tortured for half-hour by Gwendoline Goyle before Ministry Workers were able to intervene. She was unconscious when she was brought to St. Mungo's; an eye-witness to the attack said they saw Goyle hit Malfoy with the Killing Curse. As strange as that sounds could it be possible that someone else has survived the Killing Curse or was it just another rumour birthed from the terror at the Quidditch World Cup? —_

Mae snorts, tossing the Daily Prophet onto the bedside table.

Rita Skeeter is still so full of it, _what a bitch_!

While waiting for Aurelia to wake, Mae keeps her eyes out for a beetle. No doubt Rita's desperate to hear about what really happened to Aurelia.

It's almost three days since the attack, Aurelia had slept through them mostly, waking up for a few minutes here and there, sometimes saying some nonesense, sometimes she just stared at the ceiling.

Neville has visited four times, twice yesterday; he had cried every time. Aurelia had woken up once when he had been there. She spoken during the two minutes she had been awake, telling Neville and Mae quotes: "Your teeth make you look like a bunny, a soft bunny . . . You'd be such a fluffy bunny . . . Don't worry you're still pretty to me, Plant Boy."

Then Aurelia had tried to smile at him but it looked more like a grimace, seconds later she fell asleep. Luckily for her, he didn't take offense to the comment, it had made him more worried than anything.

Mae reaches for her cup of tea only to realise that it's empty, she frowns then gently pats Aurelia's knee "I'm gonna go grab another cup o' tea. I'll be right back, wee moon."

Aurelia lets out a quiet groan but doesn't stir nor open her eyes. Mae glances around the Janus Thickey Ward to make sure Alice Longbottom is nowhere in sight before she leaves.

Shortly after Aurelia had arrived in the ward, Alice had taken up the habit of wandering over to her bedside and just staring at her until a Healer comes to usher her away.

Maeve can't seem to see her, assuming Alice must be preoccupied with a puzzle, she leaves the ward.

From across the ward, Alice Longbottom sits in front of a small table watching Aurelia intently instead of working on her puzzle. Now that the redheaded woman — _May-Ella or Mae_? Alice doesn't recall what her name really is but she knows that woman. _How_? She's not exactly sure about that.

But she knows her. She does know her. She's sure of it.

And Alice knows the girl lying in the bed, she looks a little different than Alice can recall but Alice knows her, she think she's friends with her. Or was. She's not sure but she feels both and happy and wary to see her. _Bella_? _Or was it Andy_? She can't exactly recall her name either but Alice knows this girl for certain and she wants to know how.

Alice recalls that the girl either did something bad or something bad happened to her, Alice can't recall what exactly the 'bad thing' was but she knows that something happened.

She can't remember but she wants to, she wants to know how and why, she wants to know what the 'why' is. Alice wants to know who this girl is.

 _Bella or Andy_ , whoever the person is, she wants to know. Alice recalls that they're friends or maybe they once were but that's all she can recall properly. There's something else but she can't remember what it is, it's all far too blurry. Alice tries very hard to remember but it always comes back to friends and pain.

She stumbles over to the girl's bed and sit down on the edge, Alice stares intently at the girl, waiting impatiently for her to wake up.

 _Why is she always sleeping_?

 _I know her. I know her. I know her_.

 _How_?

 _Why can't I remember_?

 _I know her. I know her_.

 _Friend? Maybe? Yes? Enemy? Can't remember. Can't_ —

Alice is frustrated, why can't she remember? She's trying so hard. How can she not remember. She should remember more than pretty laughter and then scary laughter. Her memory should be better than this, Alice's pretty sure she is an Auror or was an Auror. She can't exactly remember that either. It's so blurry.

She wants this girl to wake up because if anyone has answers, it's got to be her.

 _Wake up_.

 _Wake up_.

Someone touches her shoulder and she grows tense, if it's someone who wants her to leave this girl alone again she'll scream.

She doesn't want to leave because she might forget, she forgets a lot but she can never remember what exactly she's forgotten, Alice just has that feeling that she's forgetting something important. It's frustrating.

"Mum."

Alice relaxes, it's that rounded-face boy that always seems to be around. He always says his name's Neville, like the name she gave her son — her baby boy.

Neville's just a little baby.

This Neville had to be about fifteen, he's nice and she likes him better than the others around her. She hopes her son grows up to be nice like him.

 _My son_.

 _My sweet boy_.

 _Wait — where is my son? Where did he_ —

"Mum, why don't we go sit on your bed?" Neville suggests.

She looks at Neville.

 _No. No. No._ She doesn't want to go to her bed, she wants answers.

Alice turns back to Aurelia.

 _I know her. I know her. I know her_.

She leans closer.

 _Wake up. Wake up! Wake up! WAKE UP_!

"Mum?"

 _WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP_!

Alice turns back to Neville.

 _WAKE HER UP_! She screams frustrated but he doesn't react, doesn't even flinch; he just stares at her with a concerned expression.

 _WAKE HER UP_! _WAKE HER UP_!"

Aurelia wakes with a start, someone's screaming. Why are they screaming?

Her eyes land on Alice.

She realises she's in St. Mungo's and Neville's mum is staring right at her.

 _Oh, fuck_.

" _I know you_." A female voice says, soft but also annoyed.

Aurelia looks around the ward, her eyes glancing over Neville, not even realising he's even there. No one else could have said that to her, she realises, her eyes landing back on Alice.

 _Oh, double fuck_.

Alice leans closer, staring at her intensely.

 _I KNOW YOU_!

Aurelia flinches, she can hear what Alice is thinking. It's more shocking that Alice's thoughts are coherent than the fact Aurelia can hear them even though she's seriously lacking in her Legilimency skills.

Aurelia's a natural-born Legilimens, not a good one because she's never been trained in that field before. The gift is there, something she had learned when she was a young child, if she stares long enough at someone or there thoughts are really loud, she can hear their thoughts quite well.

The gift came from her mother's side, her mum being an incredibly talented Occlumens as well as an Legilimens. Grandma Druella and Grandpa Cygnus had drilled the skills in her mum and aunt's mind from a young age like their parents did to them and so on an so forth. Legilimency and Occlumency had been a very well taught and important skill to the Black family for multiple generations now.

Her mum had decided not to force the skill onto Aurelia and Draco because, and Aurelia can only theorise this, of the way her parents had forced it onto her.

Aurelia's never paid much attention to this gift, she always brushes it off as someone speaking even though she usually has to be looking a person straight in the eye to hear their thoughts, she'll tell herself she just didn't see their mouth open no matter how obvious it had been that they were thinking it.

It's been years since she's heard thoughts so loud and obvious, it scares her.

"Nev — Neville get a Healer." Aurelia whimpers, not daring to take her eyes off Alice, afraid that she'll lose the connection.

It's then that Neville realises she's awake, he sighs relieved and bit surprised "You're awake!"

 _WHY ARE YOU IGNORING ME_! Alice yells, growing even more frustrated, there's no way the girl can't hear her, she's screaming at her.

"Get a heal — Healer please." Aurelia says desperately.

Neville gives her a look of concern but nods his head and turns on his heel to go fetch a Healer.

"Can . . . Can you understand me?" Aurelia asks, she wishes she an enter Alice's mind and push her thoughts into Alice's mind but she's not skilled enough to do that.

Alice's eyebrows scrunch together ever so slight and if Aurelia hadn't been staring at her so intently she would've missed it.

 _Of course, I can understand you! Do you think I'm dumb or something_? The offended tone of her voice doesn't match the practically blank look on her face.

 _Who are you? You're Bella, right? Or is it Andy? You're my . . . Friend, right? Or you were once . . . But — but, then you did something bad . . . Or something bad happened to you — who are you_?

"I — I'm neither of those people, I'm their niece . . . Aurelia. . . Bellatrix did something bad to you . . . She's not your friend, I'm not sure about my other aunt —"

Alice tilts her head _No . . . No . . . Did she . . . She wouldn't . . . She couldn't . . . Why can't I remember? Are you sure she did something bad to me — my son! My baby! Did she hurt my son? His name is — is Neville, like that boy over there_.

Aurelia's eyes widen in surprise and she sit up in bed, a bolt of pain runs up her spine but she ignores it.

"You remember your son? That — _ouch, fuck_! — that boy, that's your son!"

Alice leans back, her eyes widening slightly but still, it looks rather blank and doesn't match the tone of her thoughts.

 _Don't be ridiculous, my son is just a wee thing, only a year old! Did she hurt him_?

"No . . . Bellatrix didn't hurt Neville . . . He's not one anymore, Alice . . . It's not nineteen eighty-one anymore."

 _What do you mean it's not nineteen bloody eighty-one?! Of course, it's nineteen eighty-one, what year do you think it is, kid_?!

"Nineteen ninety-four?" Aurelia says slowly, does she _actually think_ it's nineteen eighty-one?

Alice laughs, _you're crazy, kid_!

"It's nineteen-ninety-four, Neville's fourteen, he just turned it on July, thirtieth, and he spent it here with you and your husband, Frank! Your son is right over there!"

 _No . . . No . . . That can't be . . . It can't be_ . . .

"Think about it . . . He calls you mum." Aurelia says softly.

Alice thinks hard, _has he_? She's never really paid attention to what Neville calls her when he's around.

Neville _can't_ be fourteen, she'd remember him growing up, _thank you very much, kid_!

She's only been in this place for a day maybe even less . . . Hasn't she?

Alice thinks very hard but everything's so blurry, _why is it so blurry_?

An image of baby Neville flashes in Aurelia's mind, he's smiling and then he's replaced by Frank, then her aunt but she can't tell which one because the image is gone too fast and replaced by Gwendoline Goyle sneering then blood, so much blood, Frank's limp body, and then nothing.

Alice goes quiet, her face getting paler.

From the corner of her eye, Aurelia sees Neville returning with a young, female healer. Aurelia chews on her lower lip in a nervous manner, reaching out a shaky hand but decides against touching her at the last moment.

"Alice . . . Are you —"

Much to Neville's surprise, his mum's head snapped up.

 _I KNOW YOU! I KNOW YOU! I KNOW YOU_!

Aurelia flinches at the woman's loud thoughts.

"No . . . You don't, my name is Aurelia, I —"

An image of Aunt Bellatrix or Aunt Andromeda flashes in Aurelia's mind but it's gone before she can distinguish which one.

Aurelia's not sure if it's her lacking Legilimency skills or Alice can't maintain pictures in her own head, which is why the pictures disappear so quickly.

 _You're Bella . . . Yes, or Andy? I can never seem to remember what one is your name, it's either one of the two_ —

The Healer Neville had fetched places her hands on Alice's shoulder and gently nudges her "Come along, Alice, I believe you have a puzzle to finish."

 _NO. NO. NO. NO! NO! NO_!

Alice is shouting angrily, unaware that it's all in her head.

"It's fine." Aurelia says quickly, "She's not harming anyone, she can stay here until she wants to go back to — to that puzzle."

The Healer hesitates but eventually lets Alice be turning her attention to Aurelia "Very well, very well. How are you today, Aurelia, are you in any pain? Any headaches, nausea?"

Aurelia shakes her head "No, not really . . . But, I am rather hungry."

"Of course, of course! I'll go and fetch you a plate of food right now!" The Healer says with a nodding, hurrying out of the ward.

Alice's thoughts are growing louder and more frustrated, they were getting harder to ignore. Aurelia tenses, glancing at Neville who's staring at her with an emotional expression. She wants to tell him, she should tell him but she's afraid that he won't believe her and get upset at her or even angry at her for even saying such a thing.

Neville kneels down by her side, he looks like he's about to cry "Ari —"

She swallows thickly "Nev, can I — can I tell you something? And can you promise not to get mad at me?"

Neville nods, he's a bit confused as to what she could possibly want to tell him but relieved that she's no longer saying weird things. Neville's been beside himself with worry since he had heard what had happened to Aurelia. He had been so afraid that she'd end up like his parents, he had grown up hearing how ruthless Gwendoline Goyle was alongside the Lestranges from his godmother. Hearing that Aurelia had been attacked, possibly killed, by her had been the most terrifying thing Neville had ever been through.

Aurelia opens her mouth to speak but she's cut off by his mum who let's out a frustrated, raspy groan.

His eyes widen in surprise, his mum's never made a sound this loud before.

Aurelia clamps her shaking hands over her ears, mumbling: "Please stop screaming, I can hear you just fine."

"Ari, no one's screaming."

"Yes — I, uh —" Aurelia stammers, glancing at his mum.

Neville glances at his mum as well, to his surprise she actually looks annoyed. His mum usually has a blank look on her face, occasionally paired with an absentminded smile. Alice's eyebrows twitch upward as she stares intently at Aurelia.

"Yes, I can hear you! I am most certainly not deaf!" Aurelia mutters.

Neville is so confused but he's also excited in a weird way. He can't exactly explain why he's excited but he feels all tingly as he looks between Aurelia and his mum, something's going on. Something _good_ , something big.

"Who — who are you talking to, Ari?" Neville asks but he thinks he knows the answer or at least he hopes it'll be her answer.

Once again, Aurelia swallows thickly and says: "Please don't be mad at me."

"No, never." He assures her.

"I — I know it sounds weird, hell, believe me it feels weird but I can hear her — your mum's thoughts. I'm sort of an Legilimens, my mum is and her gift was passed down to me, somewhat, I've got a natural talent for it and I'd be a lot better but I never really took to the lessons. My family's been studying — not — not the point, sorry. . . I've always been able to hear people's thoughts, not all the time and I'm not great at it but it's always been there and I — I can hear your mum's thoughts." Aurelia rambles nervously.

"You can?" Neville asks giddily.

He believes her wholeheartedly, Aurelia would never make something like that up and with his mum's strange behaviour, it makes sense.

She nods.

"What's she thinking?" Neville asks, his hazel eyes wide with excitement.

"Well, right now she's thinking that I'm a bit daft — hey, am not!"

Neville looks at his mum to notice the corner of her lip twitch as though she's holding back a smirk.

"I'm not daft, Alice, thank ye very much! I just got a lot on my mind at the moment, for example: your extremely loud thoughts!"

"Gran used to bring in lots of Legilimens to see if they could find anything in my parents' heads but none of them ever found anything more than a few images that usually went away within seconds and never returned. Do — do you think this means that they — they're coming around — coming back to us?"

Aurelia frowns, shrugging "I — I don't know, Nev — Neville, I don't know what's going on, I —"

She's scared, she's confused, and she's feeling extremely guilty. Not to mention, she's got a bloody migraine.

"I'm not sure how to explain it but deep inside your mum's mind her memories are there, some of them at least but they're trapped."

"Trapped?"

"They're . . . Being withheld possibly, the damage done to her by the curse probably keeps her from remembering. I — I think I might have triggered some of her memories. She thought I was my aunts and then she thought it was nineteen eighty-one —"

"Why would she think that?"

Aurelia shrugs.

Neville bites his lip, his giddiness turning into nervousness as he mulls a question over in his head. Should he ask it? Does he really want to know the answer?

"What about me?!" He blurts out, eyes glossy and face pale.

"Th — that . . . Well, uh, she remembers she has a son named Neville but she . . . Well, she doesn't think that you're Neville, she still thinks you're a baby, she thinks it's nineteen eighty-one, she's got no recollection of what Bellatrix did to them."

 _Them_? Alice echoes.

Aurelia turns to Alice "Frank, they got him too. I'm — I — I'm so sorry, Alice, please forgive me." Aurelia pleads, tears threatening to spill.

 _Frank . . . Frank . . . He's my husband . . . My love, my Frank_.

"Yes, Alice, he is. He's here too, at the back somewhere probably drawing —"

 _He likes to draw, my Frank, he draws all the time_.

"Yes, yes. Neville tells me that he likes to draw, Neville . . . Your son." Aurelia says softly.

Neville looks between the two of them with teary eyes, his mum remembers him, somewhat, at least. And that's more than enough for him.

"Mum?" Neville whispers, voice cracking, "Mum, it's me . . . It's Neville."

 _No_ , Alice whimpers, _no, you — you can't be! My Neville is only a babe, just a — just a wee little thing that can hardly walk! I would — no, not my Neville, wrong, I would remember my Neville growing up_!

Alice turns to look away from the two teens when a shimmer of gold catches her eye. It's the necklace that hangs around Aurelia's neck, a small crescent moon with a star hanging from its' top tip.

Her eyes widen and memories that she can hardly remember come at her fast, _so fast and so blurry_. It gives Alice a headache, she wants it to stop, her mouth opens up in a silent scream.

 _Moon. Daughter. Daughter. Lupin. Greyback. Bella. Help. No. Save her. Save her. Why. Why. Anything for her. For them. Help. Gwen. No. Not Neville. Moon. No. No_.

Aurelia's face crumbles as a wave of Alice's emotions hit her like a tidal wave, sadness and confusion, it's all too much for Aurelia. She's never felt feelings from thoughts before, her mum had described it as being over overwhelming and she hadn't been kidding.

She sobs, pulling her knees to her chest just to get away from Alice, she wants Alice to go away and then suddenly, she feels and hears nothing more from Alice, who's now staring at the floor.

"Ari, what — what's wrong? Are you in pain? Do you want me to get another healer?" Neville questions, concerned for her — _why is she crying_? _Could it be something mum thought_?

Aurelia takes a deep breath,trying to remember what her mum told her about keeping others' thoughts out of her head, she doesn't want to hear Alice's thoughts for a long time.

Neville grabs her hand, brushing his thumb gently over the top of her palm "Ari?"

She blinks, covering her necklace with her other hand as for some reason it had triggered a very surprising reaction from Alice. A reaction she hopes to never be witness to again.

Before she can say anything, Mae returns with a cup of steaming tea. Mae's green eyes widen when she sees that Aurelia's awake "Oh, wee moon, thank goodness yer awake! I was startin' to get nervous there! —"

She spots Alice sitting on Aurelia's bedside and bites back an exasperated sigh but Augusta, arriving just behind her, sighs loud enough for the both of them.

"Alice, dear, stay way from —"

Mae gives Augusta a nasty look and the older woman clears her throat.

"Alice, dear, don't you have a puzzle that needs completing?" Augusta questions Alice in a soft voice, grabbing her daughter-in-law's elbow in an attempt to lead her away.

This time Alice complies, her expression is completely blank and her mind is quiet. Aurelia's not sure if it's because she's hopefully lost connection with the woman or if it's due to the fact there's simply nothing on the woman's mind.

"Wee moon, are ye alright? Yer cryin', are ye in pain?" Mae questions worriedly, gently pushing Neville out of the way so that she could sit next to Aurelia.

Aurelia glances at Neville, they stare at each other and it seems like Neville's trying to communicate something to her but she doesn't hear anything, she's keeping her mind blank so that she doesn't hear anyone's thoughts. Just like her mum told her to do all those years ago.

"I — I'm confused, what hap — happened to me? Where — is Percy alright? Goyle, she — I —" Aurelia stammers tearfully.

Mae brushes Aurelia's damp curls from her bruised, pale face.

"Gwendoline Goyle attacked ye, she — oh, Merlin! My sweet moon, I'm s — so sorry, I — I should've never left ye own yer own, plea — please forgive me!" Mae whimpers.

Aurelia frowns, if it's anyone's fault it's her own. For someone who spends most of the school year either practicing spells or creating her own, it had been pretty pathetic of her to not be able to think of at least three good spells to protect herself. She had only thought of the Stunning Spell because Gwendoline had used it on her.

She shakes her head quickly "No, mum, it's not your fault."

Aurelia freezes, realising she had just called Mae 'mum' Aurelia doesn't call Mae that, not to her face. When she had the first and last time, Mae had cried and so Aurelia came to the conclusion didn't want to be her mum. So, Aurelia just refers to Mae as her mum to her friends and Elliot.

Mae strokes her cheek lovingly "I could've lost ye forever, I thought ye were dead."

"I'm a bad witch, you can't kill me." Aurelia laughs weakly.

"You . . . Ye were hit by the Killing Curse, it —"

Aurelia blinks, she remembers that vividly the bright green light that had just missed her, "No . . . Goyle missed me by an inch, I thought I was dead for — for a moment." she whispers, blue eyes wide with fear.

"Oh." Mae breathes, looking relieved beyond belief as a smile dances across her red-tainted lips

Aurelia studies her, she doesn't look too good, her thick red curls are dishevelled, her eyeliner smeared, and bright red lipstick smeared — _holy titty fuck_!

Her scars.

She covers the right side of her face but she realises that if they had been showing Neville would've said something by now like " _Oh, those are ugly_!" or " _Bloody hell, I did't realise I'm friends with the Phantom of the fucking Opera_!".

Okay, Neville wouldn't say that, he's never read the Phantom of the Opera or listened to the musical — the superior version — so he wouldn't compare her to that. The former is more along the lines of something he would, so it's safe to say that her scars are hidden.

Aurelia looks over to see that Neville has his back turned to them, more than likely to give Mae and herself some privacy.

"When can I leave?" Aurelia asks Mae, earning a watery laugh from the redhead.

"Dependin' what the Healers say about your health you may be out by this evenin' or maybe tomorrow mornin'." Mae answers, kissing Aurelia's forehead.

After some tests the Healers decide to keep Aurelia there for two more days, much to her dismay.

Neville visits both those days, bringing sunflowers one day and the next day red and yellow Heather flowers because he thought those might be her new favourite flowers.

He had presented them with a proud smile "They took forever to find in these colours! You're always talking about how you love the red and yellow Heathers so I wanted to surprise you with these instead of sunflowers!"

Aurelia had wheezed so hard Neville had jumped in surprise, almost dropping the flowers. He had thought she meant flowers — she didn't even know there were flowers called 'Heather' — _how pure can someone be_?

"That's a Muggle movie I was referring to!" She had laughed loudly, her heart beating rapidly in her chest as she realised he actually listened to her ramblings.

"Oh." He had said sadly, his proud smile turning into a flustered frown.

"Oh, no, no, no! I love them, Neville! I really do! They're beautiful! I did — I didn't know there were flowers called 'Heather'! Thank you." She had reassured him, laughing and wheezing uncontrollably.

Then, Neville had asked about his mum.

She had encountered Alice five more times after that but no new information had come about. She'd tell Aurelia that she knew her, Aurelia would tell her she didn't, Alice would refuse to believe that it wasn't nineteen eighty-one anymore, and then she'd think to hard and pause for a moment and then start all over again. It's like a loop, not exactly the same every time it repeated but it always repeated.

Aurelia's come to the conclusion that Alice has trouble retaining her thoughts and memories. She could be wrong as she's not a professional but it's something she can use to make a theory. She now knows where to start when it comes to helping the Longbottoms.

"Should we tell someone?" Aurelia wonders, after telling Neville more about his mum's behaviour.

Neville thinks for a moment, he notices she's shivering so he tugs off his Gryffindor jumper and hands it to her.

"I don't think they'll believe us." He replies, stifling a laugh as Aurelia's head gets caught in the arm of his jumper.

Aurelia mulls his answer over in her head as she struggles to get her head through the right hole. He's got a point, they're just kids. If trained professionals couldn't find anything what makes anyone think that a highly untrained fourteen-year-old girl could. Most healers had given up on the Longbottoms.

They had been written off a lost cause, Healers think that they're too far gone and perhaps at times that's true but there's still hope. Alice and Frank aren't completely gone, they're just trapped. Lost in their minds, almost in a dreamlike state, like Alice in Wonderland, or that Muggle condition they call a 'coma'. Aurelia's not sure how to explain it but Alice and Frank are still there in some ways and she's determined to bring them back.

Which may come as a difficult task to her considering she can't even put on a jumper properly.

Neville chuckles and helps her put the red and gold jumper on the correct way after she fails to do so three times.

Aurelia sighs exasperated with herself "I'm gonna find a way to work on my Legilimency skills this year, m'kay? Then I'll come back in the summer to see if I can contact her again and if I can we'll tell someone then . . . Does that sound like a plan?" Aurelia wonders, pulling her pink curls into a half-assed ponytail.

Neville nods, smiling brightly. The fact that Aurelia's trying to help his parents makes him feel all more and fuzzy. It's not just the fact that he thinks the world of Aurelia that makes him believe that she's going to be the one who helps his parents getter better. Neville knows that if anyone can make even the slightest difference in his parents' lives it's going to be Aurelia. He appreciates her efforts more than his words can ever express.

It's been so long since someone's actually tried to do something with his parents, his grandmother had give up years ago not because she wanted to but because it hurt her too much to watch all her attempts fail every time. His godmother never bothered with his parents, she had been the first to tell him they were a lost cause even though it had made him cry.

Aurelia grins back at him, taking his warm hands into her cold ones, _I'd do anything for you_.

Ever since she had found out what happened to the Longbottoms, Aurelia's always had a burning desire to help them.

The Longbottoms were one of the reasons Aurelia had decided to start creating her own spells. Now, years after creating spells, she's got the experience and a theory that might help create a spell that help the Longbottoms.

She's going to get Neville's parents back.

Aurelia squeezes Neville's hands, _I promise you, I'll bring them back to you_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I Am Not Good At Writing Articles So Please Ignore That Mess! Aurelia has the ability to be an Legilimens, she's not exactly one now as the ability is very weak, it's been passed down from her mother, who as we know is rather skilled Legilimens and Occlumens. Aurelia hasn't had much practice with Legilimency so she doesn't hear people thoughts often, this is the first time she's heard more than a sentence from a person's mind. It may seem confusing at the moment but Alice and Frank's condition and how I'm going about it, but it will be explained more in later chapters.
> 
> Me, when I first started this series: You can't go too AU no one will like that!
> 
> Me, now: What the fuck is canon?! Idk her.
> 
> please leave a review letting me know what you thought of it, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated!


	11. | IX: ❝Donum Vitae❞

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there, I told myself I wasn't going update for another week but I'm really excited about this chapter because we got some mild Angst in it! Angst is what I live for!! Also Neville and Aurelia's ship name is now called: Nevari! I hope you enjoy the chapter, please leave a review letting me know what you thought of it, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated!

****

**CHAPTER ix ** _!_**  
** Donum Vitae

* * *

 

 **AURELIA IS GLAD TO BE HOME**. **SHE** ' **S** glad to be in her own room, glad to be away from the white walls of the Janus Thickey Ward. She's so glad to be free from St. Mungo's.

She's been home for almost two weeks now, most of her time is spent researching what could be wrong with Alice and Frank Longbottom, outside the brutal effects of the Cruciatus Curse, that is. And besides that day when Elliot, Mae, and Aurelia had went dress shopping — Elliot had actually tried on a dress and he had actually looked good in it — and that day Mae took her to the mainland to buy some Muggle textbooks about how the brain works from that Muggle bookstore in Fionnphort, Aurelia's hulled herself up in her room.

She's done nothing but study those books, take notes, and listen to _Abba_. Take right now for example: Aurelia's jotting down some notes about how the cerebellum is the part of the brain that plays a major role in balance, motor control, emotional functions, attention, and language while _Slipping Through my Fingers_ plays softly on her gramophone.

She's so engrossed in her research that not even the smell of chocolate chip cookies distracts her.

Every once in awhile, she'll stop taking notes to replay _Sleeping Through my Fingers_. It's her favourite _Abba_ song, it reminds her a faint memory of she can't quite remember as well as her other memories but she remembers this song, the feeling of being loved wholeheartedly, being protected. She felt safe, she felt loved like she's never been before in her whole life.

Aurelia turns another page of her new writing book and scribbles down some more notes, someone knocks on her door and she mumbles: "Come in." not even bothering to take her eyes off her work.

Mae slips into her room "Are ye alright, dear? I made cookies and ye didn't come runnin' down the stairs, is somethin' the matter?" she says, laughing lightly.

"M'busy." Aurelia mumbles.

"How can one be too busy for cookies?" Mae teases, skipping over to Aurelia.

Mae pouts "Yer leavin' for school tomorrow, wee moon, are ye really going to stay in your room all night?"

Aurelia pauses and shakes her head "No, not all night."

"Ye know, ye can bring that downstairs and hang out with Ellie and I . . . Instead of locking yourself in yer room." Mae says.

Aurelia places her pen down, maybe she should take a break. After all, she won't see Mae until next June.

"Okay, okay!" Aurelia says, grinning as she looks down at Mae.

Mae grins right back.

"First, I want to show ye somethin'!" Mae tells Aurelia, her grin turning from playful to mischievous as she tugs on the lilac-haired teen's arm.

Aurelia allows herself to be dragged out of her room, Mae giggles giddily as she brings her up to her bedroom on the fourth floor of the castle.

Before entering the bedroom, Mae covers Aurelia's eyes.

"Ye know how ye wanted a dress with flowers on it but we couldn't find any?" Mae questions.

Aurelia nods, trying to pry Mae's hands from her eyes but the redhead scolds her.

"Nooo, wee moon, it's a surprise!"

Aurelia sighs, letting her hands fall to her sides. Mae giggles, practically jumping up and down as she leads Aurelia into her room.

She removes her hands, allowing Aurelia to see once more.

"Well, wee moon, what do ye think?" Mae asks, looking expectantly at Aurelia.

Aurelia looks at the dress in front of her in awe.

When they had went dress shopping it hadn't taken long for Aurelia to find the almost perfect dress that might have been a little too fancy for the Yule Ball.

It had almost been perfect when they had bought it, Mae had made it perfect.

The yellow ball gown's placed upon a mannequin. When it had been purchased the entire dress had been a yellow colour and sleeveless but now top half is a silky white decorated in white fabric flowers. It now has semi-transparent sleeves, some of the white flowers have been placed on the skirt of the dress in a sparse pattern, decorating it like the frost decorates the grass in the early morning.

"Well, dear?" Mae asks as she places a hand on Aurelia's shoulder, "Do ye like it?"

Aurelia nods vigorously "Aye, Aye I do, mum — Mae, I love it!"

Mae smiles brightly "Would ye mind tryin' it on for a wee bit? I want to make sure I didn't completely ruin the neckline by addin' the sleeves."

Once again, Aurelia nods vigorously.

"Wonderful! I'll help ye put it on it. It's a bit difficult to put it on all by yourself but ye can just ask one of yer friends for help when the time comes." Mae explains, removing the dress from the mannequin.

Aurelia nods, pulling her jumper off then her tank top that had been underneath it, she glances around Mae's room.

She hadn't spent a lot of time on the fourth floor of the castle in the years she's been at Almerry Castle much less the redhead's room.

Mae's room is rather large though not as large as her own. The purple-gray walls of the room are covered in paintings and drawing of her aunts, mum, herself, and Elliot.

It's cluttered with art supplies and scraps of fabric. Mae's room is a lot more cluttered than she expects it to be considering how clean the rest of the castle is.

"It might be easier to get in the dress if you take off your jeans off. The fabric of the dress might catch on your jeans." Mae suggests, undoing the lace on the back of the dress.

Aurelia undos then kicks off her pants without a second thought, her eyes still scanning the room.

Mae helps her into the dress and begins to lace it up, wondering: "How does it feel?"

"Good." Aurelia mumbles in reply, "Can ye tie it a wee bit tighter?"

"O' course."

Aurelia looks over at the fireplace, the flames are cackling loudly and above it rests a large mantle covered in moving pictures. One in particular catches her eye.

"Is that alright?" Mae asks.

Aurelia nods, blue eyes focused on a picture of her aunt.

She walks over to it and grabs it off the mantle.

 _Oh, Merlin_ . . . _What if Seamus is right_?

 _What if all the rumours are true_?

"Wee moon?"

The pictures is of her Aunt Bellatrix and her little baby self, Aurelia couldn't have been more than two months old when this photo had been taken. It was definitely her, the little tuft of gold, shimmery hair on the baby's head is unmistakably her's.

Her aunt is cradling her in her arms, she glares at the camera for a moment then Aurelia's baby self gives a little yawn or a little cry and Bellatrix's glare turns into a look of pure adoration as she looks down at the baby in her arms.

Aurelia's heart aches with every replay of the photo, even her own mother didn't look at her like this.

Mae stands on her tiptoes to see what Aurelia's looking at, her giddy expression falls when she sees it.

"Your father took that photo." Mae recalls, "Practically dove to get the camera. . . It was the first time your parents had seen Trix smile in years, also one of the few times she had cried, he had to get that on camera. He never let her live that one down."

"Why?" Aurelia asks hoarsely.

Mae blinks "Well, they were always at —"

"No, I mean why is she lookin' at me like that? Even me own mother never looked at me like that! Is — Is she me mother?!"

Mae frowns but scoffs "Where on Earth did ye get an idea like that?!"

"I look so — so much like her, I remember her so viv — vividly, I — I —"

Maeve places a warm hand on her shoulder "You are not her child."

There's something _off_ about Maeve's voice when she says that.

Aurelia turns on her with narrowed eyes "Don't lie to me, Mae! Just tell me, am —"

"Is tusa. Tha mi duilich." Mae speaks in Gaelic, smiling sadly at Aurelia before adding in English: "Don't you tust me, wee moon?"

Aurelia's doesn't speak Gaelic, not fluently at least, and she's got no idea what Maeve had just said but she nods. She trusts Mae, she trusts her with her life.

Mae cups Aurelia's face with her warm hands "Trix just really loved you . . . And, Draco. It's nothing more than that my Donum Vitae."

Donum Vitae means 'the Gift of Life' in Latin and it's one of the pet names Mae calls her. Though, Mae usually saves it for special occasions. Aurelia doesn't understand this nickname, she gets 'little moon' because Aurelia used to be obsessed with moons and stars before that happened but, Donum Vitae is lost to her.

"Why do you call me that?" Aurelia asks, lowering the photograph and allowing Mae to take it.

"Why wouldn't I?" Mae counters, smiling brightly.

"I'm not a gift of life, mum — Mae." Aurelia retorts, accidentally calling Mae 'mum' again. She's been doing that a lot since the attack at the Quidditch World Cup.

"Ye are, wee moon." Mae insists, "My special Donum Vitae . . . Ye are so special to me, Aurelia Alice, don't ye ever think otherwise. Ye and Ellie are the best things in my life, I don't know what I'd do without the two of yous."

Aurelia smiles softly "I get Ellie . . . But, me?"

"Both of you." Mae says as she strokes Aurelia's cheek, "Ye are my love, my life."

"Did you just. . . ?"

Mae merely winks at her as she helps Aurelia out of the dress.

* * *

The morning of September first is more chaotic than the previous two she had spent with the Macleod and Burke. Mostly because Elliot had 'impaled' himself with his eyeliner pencil and he had screamed bloody murder about it for five minutes like the dramatic bitch that he is.

"Pancakes good?" Mae queries.

Aurelia nods, reaching for another pancake. In the distance, Aurelia can hear Elliot cursing out his eyeliner pencil, yet again.

"Are ye excited to be goin' back to Hogwarts?" Mae wonders, placing more pancake batter on the grill.

 _Minus the Triwizard Tournament and the fact that a lot of people will be asking if she actually survived the Killing Curse or not, thanks to Rita Skeeter_ — "Yeah."

Mae grins and Aurelia returns it.

While she's excited for the Yule Ball and going with Neville — or Hermione as either one of them makes her giddy, she can't tell with whom she'd rather go with. Her life's a mess, she knows. She much rather do without the rest of the Triwizard Tournament, because the tasks are never good and never easy and she still can't believe that Albus fucking Dumbledore thought it'd be a great idea to bring it to Hogwarts.

Aurelia excuses herself from the kitchen to go and get dressed. She's already got her outfit planned out, a red cropped shirt and a pair of grey, slim-fitting jeans. Then, of course, she's got to put her make up on to hide her scars, Aurelia's got to put on a bit more than usual to hide the long and very deep scars on her stomach because of the top that she picked out.

The werewolf had struck her twice, once across the face and then once across her chest and stomach. The latter of the injuries had been the worst and it had almost killed her but luckily, Mae had been able to heal her with some Muggle remedies. In between the two strikes, Aurelia had managed to punch her snout, which made the werewolf angry and the second strike had been the worst.

Aurelia decides she's got to tell her friends some time this year about the whole werewolf thing, she's getting rather tired of applying this make-up every single day. They'll probably think she's ugly but she thinks most of her friends — by now, at least — like her for her fantastic sense of humour more than her looks. So, they might not leave her like the others did.

And, Neville . . . Well, she highly doubts that he finds her attractive as it is now, just imagine what he'll think when he sees the scars.

She shudders at the thought, _don't think about that now_ , she pulls off her pyjamas and starts putting on her clothes.

Aurelia smears the make-up across the scars on her stomach, the pale alabaster of the make-up turns to a pale peach colour, matching the colour of her skin. She cringes at the cool, moist feeling of it against her skin; she hates it but it's the best gift she's ever received.

Aurelia looks at the three scars on her face. The longest of them starts at her hairline and stops just at the tip of her nose, the top scar starts at the outer corner of her eye and stops at the bridge of her nose, and the bottom scar starts on the top of her cheekbone and stops on her lower lip.

She hates them. She hates herself. Why did she have to run away that night, her dad hadn't meant to hurt her. He had apologised so why had she thought it would be a good idea to run from her home?

She had been so stupid, so terribly stupid.

"You're a fucking twat." She tells her reflection.

Aurelia tugs on her jeans and then her shirt, she turns back around to look her in the mirror and observe her appearance and make sure she's covered all the scars on her stomach.

She makes the reckless decision not to cover the scars on her face, she'll just use her Metamorphmagus abilities to hide them. A decision, she feels deep down, she's going to regret.

Her outfit, as Olivia would say, is the the _bomb dot com_. Satisfied with her appearance, Aurelia grabs her leather jacket and heads downstairs.

When she enters the kitchen, Elliot's stuffing his face with pancakes. Aurelia's certain he can out eat Ron. Elliot pauses, a forkful of pancakes inches from his open mouth as he scrutinises her appearance. She realises they're dressed similarly and she sighs knowing what Elliot's going to do next.

He glances down at his cropped green shirt with grey stripes on the sleeves and black high-waisted, slim-fitting jeans.

Elliot gives Aurelia a condescending 'Hmmm."

She rolls her brown eyes.

"One of us is going to have to change and it ain't going to be me!" Elliot sings-songs.

Aurelia flips him off then reaches up to grab a travelling mug from the cupboards.

"Hey! You have the, uh —" He says, waving his arm about as he tries to think of the word for it, "— birthmark as mum!"

He's referring to the reddish-brown, sort of cat-faced shape on her stomach.

"I do . . . ?" She asks, giving him a weird look because _how the fuck can I have the same birthmark as Mae_? She turns her head to look at Mae "I do?"

Mae nods, smiling softly though her body looks tense "Aye, ye do. But, mine's darker and the points are a wee bit —"

"The ears . . . It's a . . . A cat." Aurelia cuts her off, smiling sheepishly as she points at her birthmark which is partially hidden by her waistline.

Mae tilts her head, her smile growing wider "Oh, it kinda does look like a cat, well, what do ye know!"

Aurelia grins, thoroughly confused by the fact she has the same birthmark as Mae, how is that even possible? Maybe, it's just a coincidence. . . _It has to be, right_?

Aurelia pulls out her wand from her back pocket to turn the kettle on, she gives it a little flick and the button is magically turned on. Mae gives her a scolding look but she doesn't say anything because to the Ministry the little spell she just cast is a but a wee fluke in the Trace Charm. As far as the Ministry believes, no one has lived inside Almerry Castle since the late seventies, they won't look into it, they never do when she does something in the castle.

Elliot summoned a whole ass feast once and they didn't hear a peep from the Ministry; Aurelia's got a theory that it's the magic surrounding the castle that keeps the Ministry from being alerted of underage magic. It makes sense since the castle's been around for almost seven hundred years, there's probably magic around and in it that people today have no idea about.

When she had been at Olivia's house she had, without thinking, used her magic to turn on the Television because she couldn't find the remote and she had gotten a very severe warning from the Ministry. So, Aurelia has the Trace, it just for some reason doesn't work at Almerry Castle.

"Ye two packed and ready to go?" Mae queries, pulling out the raspberry tea for Aurelia, already knowing that's what she wants.

"Just about, I've just got to get Freddie into his crate." Aurelia says, the task itself shouldn't take too long.

But, he doesn't want to be caged." Elliot snickers, "He wants . . . To break free."

"And, I want to throttle you." Aurelia says, smiling sweetly.

"C'mon that was good, admit it!"

"I'd rather be eaten by a dragon!"

"Well, I saw a Hebridean Black in the sky early this morning so that can be arranged!"

* * *

For some reason, King's Cross Station seems to be more overwhelming this year. Maybe it's because Mae hadn't accompanied them this time, she had errands to run so she dropped them off at Travis' Inn where they had used the the Floo Network to get to the platform, or maybe it's because a lot of people are staring at her and she knows she's not imagining it this year.

But, she keeps her mind clear and calm despite the panic inside that's threatening to boil over. Aurelia's got to stay calm, it's the only thing hiding her scars.

 _Stay fuckin' calm_ , she tells herself as she takes a deep breath, _no one needs to know you were attacked by a werewolf just yet_.

She'll tell her friends first, then depending on their reactions, she'll let her scars be free. Others can guess how she got them for all she care, of course, after the Quidditch World Cup, most of them will assume she got them from Gwendoline Goyle. Which in Aurelia's mind, is far better than them knowing that she got attacked by a werewolf.

"Listen, I know I look great in a crop top but y'all can stop staring, that'd be great, thanks!" Elliot announces dramatically to the crowd, slinging an arm around Aurelia's shoulder.

If anything, his outburst draws more attention to Aurelia, but she appreciates his motives.

"Now, more people are staring." She says teasingly.

"Yeah, but are they staring at you or my dramatic ass? Now, that's the real question, cuz!"

"Oh."

"AURELIA!" A shrill shriek pierces through the loud chatter of the platform. The shrill shriek belongs to, Natalie Wilkes. A redheaded Ravenclaw in the fourth year that Aurelia had befriended back in first year shortly after Christmas holiday.

Aurelia glances over her shoulder to see Nat running towards her. Which is extremely shocking because Natalie Wilkes doesn't run, not even when she's late for Professor McGonagall's class.

"You're alive!" Nat exclaims.

Aurelia laughs, disregarding the fact people are staring and runs to meet Nat halfway. Nat hugs her tightly, sweeping her off her feet much to Aurelia's surprise.

"You're alive!" Nat exclaims, more maniacally this time as she spins Aurelia around.

Nat is six feet tall and all muscle, it's a running joke that Nat's family are half-giant because of how tall they all are.

Aurelia is five-foot seven and is practically skin and bones so to Nat, picking her is as easy as picking up a paintbrush.

Nat puts her down after a few seconds then brushes her shoulder length hair from her freckled face "My whole family was in Amsterdam all vacation, we just got back last night and I found out you died! Holy moly! Are you alright? Did you actually get hit by the Killing Curse?!"

"No, and I'm right as rain, Nat." Aurelia replies.

"Really?"

"Really, really."

Nat hugs her again "You gave me quite a scare!"

"Yes, well, next time I'll try my damn best to not get attacked by the Death-Eater who's wanted me dead since before I could walk at the next Quidditch World Cup." Aurelia quips.

"You better." Nat says, completely missing the sarcasm in Aurelia's voice.

Aurelia rolls her eyes, turning back to look at Elliot only to see that her cousin has wandered off. He must've spotted George, at least this time he had been nice enough to take her things for her.

"Have ye seen Liv or Han yet?" Aurelia asks Nat.

Nat shakes her head "I haven't seen Livie yet, I think I saw Hannah but she'd be on the train by now."

"Have you heard from Han recently?"

"Yes, why?"

"Oh, well . . . I think she's mad at me then. She didn't reply to my letters this summer and that's not like her, I sent her two, y'know nothing more than usual and I didn't hear a peep from her."

"She's not mad at you, she was just busy this summer."

"She wrote to you!"

"After being attacked by a bloody Death-Eater, this is what you're worried about?" Nat asks, giving her an incredulous look.

"Aye, I am."

"You really are a strange one, Black." Nat says, shaking her head as the two of them board the train.

Aurelia rolls her eyes but she's still worried. She can't think of any good reasons as to why Hannah would ignore her, she hopes that Hannah's not mad at her as she doesn't want to lose Hannah as a friend, Aurelia really likes Hannah.

Before Aurelia can question Nat further, the redhead waves her off, saying: "It's probably nothing. Or at least, nothing like you're thinking, Blue."

"You're right." Aurelia sighs.

She's still worried nevertheless.

"I've got to go give Heather some money for the trolley, she left before father could give her any. Then, I'll look for Livie and Hannah, so I'll see you later!" Nat says, smiling.

"M'kay, see you around then!"

The two split up, Aurelia wanders off, looking for her other friends. Aurelia finds Seamus and Dean first, they're already sitting in a compartment and laughing away about something.

She slides into the compartment, announcing: "Hello, you Gryffinbitches, your Huffleslut has arrived!"

The both stop to stare at her, Seamus is the first to react, jumping to his feet and tackling her into a hug.

"You're alright!" He shrieks.

He hugs her tightly, rocking her back and forth. As much as Aurelia appreciates the hug, she tries to push him off.

Dean raises an eyebrow, still looking quite shocked as he asks: "Did you just call yourself a slut?"

"No, I called myself a Huffleslut, there's a difference."

"There is? Well, please enlighten me." Dean says sarcastically.

Seamus lets go of her and sits back down beside Dean, Aurelia straighten out her outfit as she replies: "There's no difference, Elliot called me that once during a game of Quidditch this summer and now I refuse to be referred to as anything less than a Huffleslut."

There's a choking noise behind her, she glances behind herself and smiles wide when she sees Neville, who's choking on his Pumpkin Patsy.

"Awright there, Plant Boy." She greets him and he waves, unable to speak as he tries to swallow the treat stuck in his throat.

"You alright there, mate?" Seamus asks.

Neville nods, still choking.

"Here!" Aurelia reaches into her messenger bag and pulls out her traveller's mug of raspberry tea, "Use this to wash it down!"

Neville grabs the mug and chugs it down. Once his throat's cleared, he says "Thanks" and pulls Aurelia into a tight hug.

Her hair turns bright pink and her face grows warms and she pushes Neville away before she melts in his arms. Why does he make her feel so helpless?

Neville's face is almost as pink as her hair "It's good to see you . . . Ari, really good —"

Seamus snickers and Dean elbows him in the ribs.

"How are you, Ari?" Neville asks.

The feeling in the compartment changes completely with just a simple question. Aurelia shifts uncomfortably, feeling Dean and Seamus' eyes on her.

Aurelia licks her lips, nodding quickly "M'fine."

"What happened?" Seamus asks.

Aurelia frowns talking a deep breath "Well . . ."

* * *

As she finishes telling them what happened at the Quidditch World Cup, Aurelia glances around at her friends' shocked faces. Neville's heard the story before so he looks more impressed than shocked.

Seamus blinks, opening and closing his mouth "So — so you stunned Gwendoline bloody Goyle?"

Aurelia blushes "Aye, I s'pose that was rather lame."

Seamus snorts "Lame? You stunned Goyle! You know, it's a miracle you're even alive! Goyle's a merciless Death-Eater that's killed trained Aurors and you took her out with a Stunning Spell! That's not lame, that's bad ass!"

Aurelia squirms in her seat "I guess, but it wasn't even good Stunner, it —"

"It was enough to help you get away from her and that's all that matters." Dean says.

"He's right." Neville agrees, patting her knee.

Aurelia blushes and she thinks she better brush his hand off her knee before her face catches on fire. She jumps up, exclaiming: "Hey, we — we should go find, Potter and co.!"

Luckily, the three boys see nothing wrong with her suggestion. Neville stands up, grabbing her hand, only making her even more flustered.

And so, the four friends set off to find the troublesome Gryffindor trio.

As they walk down the corridor, Aurelia holds Neville behind "Hey, Plant Boy . . . Can I show you something?"

Neville frowns, she sounds nervous and she looks like she's going to cry, he nods "Yeah, anything . . . Are you alright?"

Her eyes light up as she replies: "Aye, m'fine! Nym taught me something over the summer, wanna see?"

He nods eagerly "Of course!"

Aurelia smiles nervously and Neville watches on amazed as three nasty scars appear on her face.

"Wow." He breathes, reaching up and tracing the longest scar.

She leans into his touch, she reckons she could get used to this.

"What — what do you think?" She asks nervously.

"They're nasty but they're so cool. It — it's amazing you can do this, you — you're skills have improved so much, they look so real!"

It suddenly feels like she can't breathe. _Nasty. Nasty. Nasty_. He says they look nasty.

 _Well, fuck! What was I actually expecting_?!

Aurelia laughs loudly "Yeah, they're so real and so ugly, ha! Ha! Ha!"

She'd take pity over him saying they're nasty.

Neville's confused by her sudden change of behaviour, his hand falls to his side as he asks: "Are you sure you're alright?"

Aurelia looks down at him with a sickly sweet smile on her red-painted lips "I'm fine. Perfectly fine!"

She snaps at him, she never snaps at him, and then she starts to cry.

"Ari! Ari, what's wrong?" He asks softly, "Why — why are you crying?"

Had he done something? No, at least he doesn't think he did.

Aurelia shrugs, feigning confusion as she sobs: "I — I don't know. I — I really don't know why."

Neville hugs her, though he's confused as hell by her behaviour.

"M'sorry for snappin' at ye. I didn't mean to — to, I really am."

Neville opens his mouth to say something but he's cut off by Seamus who yells: "Hey, love birds, I found them!"

Aurelia forces her scars to go away with all her might, this had been a terrible idea and you had no right to snap at him like that, shame on you, she scolds herself as she makes her way over to Seamus and Dean.

Neville follows after her, grabbing her hand as they enter Harry, Ron, and Hermione's compartment.

"Hey!" Seamus greets the three of them, proudly showing off his Irish rosette and then begins their discussion about the World Cup.

Thankfully, neither of them brings up what happened Aurelia.

Neville listens on jealously to their conversation, he really wished he hadn't been grounded for half the summer and that his gran had actually wanted to go.

"It sounded like it was amazing." Neville says to Ron.

"It was! Here, look at this, Neville!"

Ron rummages through his trunk, pulling out a miniature figure of Viktor Krum.

"Oh, wow!" Neville gasps enviously as Ron dumps it into his hands.

"We saw him right up close as well, we were in the Top Box —"

"For the first and last time in your life, Weasley." Draco drawls, standing in the doorway, Crabbe and Goyle flanking his side.

"Don't remember asking you to join us, Malfoy." Harry says coolly.

"Weasley what is that?!"

When Ron had rummaged through his trunk, he had left a sleeve of old, frilly fabric hanging out and unfortunately for him, Draco had spotted it.

Ron makes to hide the fabric but Draco's too quick for him, he seizes the sleeve and pulls it out to reveal very ugly dress robes.

"Look at this!" Draco exclaims, looking positively delighted.

"Draco." Aurelia says warningly.

"Weasley, you weren't thinking of wearing these, were you? I mean, they were very fashionable in about eighteen ninety —"

"Eat dung, Malfoy!" Ron shouts.

Aurelia stands up and bluffs: "Do you really want me to tell Potter about the party of eighty-seven?"

Draco stops laughing "You wouldn't dare!"

Aurelia raises an eyebrow "M'yeah? Try me?"

"I'll tell them about your accident." Draco whispers harshly and Aurelia sinks back into her seat, looking close to tears. _Ah, yes, because being attacked by a werewolf is fair game for wearing an embarrassing outfit_.

Draco smirks victorious and turns back on Ron "Are you going to enter, Weasley? Try to bring a bit of glory to your family's name? There's money —"

"The Weasleys have more glory than our family'll ever have!"

Draco laughs coldly, glancing at Aurelia "You're only saying that because you're bitter and a disgrace —"

Before anyone can stop her, Aurelia's got to her feet, brandishing her wand as she snarls: "Anteoculatia!"

Antlers sprout from his platinum hair, he lets out an almost girlish shriek and bolts out of the compartment, Crabbe and Goyle follow after him.

Aurelia sinks down in her seat fuming as they boys stare at her with wide-eyed looks, Hermione glances over her book, disapprovingly tutting Aurelia before returning to it.

Neville turns to Seamus, a goofy grin on his face as he breathes out: "Wow."

Aurelia stays relatively silent for the rest of the train ride. Fuming over what Draco had said to the very minute the Hogwarts Express pulls into Hogsmeade Station.

The rain is still pouring down hard and Aurelia thankful that Travis had charmed her umbrella when they passed through this morning the inn this morning. The second the train doors open, she presses the umbrella button like her life depends on it.

She offers Neville a place under the umbrella, telling him: "It's cold as fuck."

Neville chuckles an shrugs off his jacket for her to take.

"I — er — No, Plant Boy, that's not what I meant!" She exclaims.

"It's alright, it looks like you need it more than I do." He remarks.

She shakes her head, shivering. For someone who loves the cold, she doesn't handle it well.

Neville places the jacket around her shoulders "Th — there ya go."

Aurelia blushes, stop that! You're too cute for me to handle!

"Thank you, Plant Boy!"

"No problem, Sunflower Girl."

Finally the group reaches the Thestral-drawn carriages, Aurelia and Neville climb in first and Harry, Ron, and Hermione climb in after them.

The carriages start moving, Neville, Harry, Ron, and Hermione give Aurelia bewildered looks as she says:

"If there isn't any cheesecake at this feast then I'm going to fist fight Albus Dumbledore."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is Bellatrix actually Soft™ for Aurelia and Draco or am I just leading you up to Severe Disappointment™? Now that's the real question. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, please leave a review letting me know what you thought of it, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated!
> 
> P.S: Aurelia showed Neville her scars and that didn't go well, how do you think he's going to react when he finds out they're real?


	12. | X: ❝Grease Lightning❞

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there, sorry this chapter took so long to come out, I was having a very bad week and it was a Struggle™ to get it typed up! I hope you enjoy the chapter, please leave a review letting me know what you thought of it, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated!

****

**CHAPTER x** ** _!_**  
Grease Lightning

* * *

" **I** ' **M JUST SAYING THERE'S NO WAY YOU** ' **D** win a fight against Dumbledore!" Ron argues, shaking his head.

Harry agrees with Ron, saying "Dumbledore's like —"

"A century old?" Aurelia quips, "I mean a fight without magic."

Harry and Ron stare at her.

"But then he's just a really old man." Neville mumbles.

"You can't fight the elderly!" Hermione cries.

"I will if there's no cheesecake." Aurelia says, smiling innocently.

"Eh, Dumbledore would still win." Ron remarks.

"He's so old! His bones are probably more brittle than peanut brittle! I would so bloody win!" Aurelia exclaims.

Ron, Hermione, and Harry stare bewildered at Aurelia, Neville sighs exasperatedly.

"Ari, you . . . You can't just say these things."

"What? The truth?"

Neville sighs again, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Ron goes to say something but their carriage comes to an halt, signalling they've arrived at Hogwarts.

Aurelia pulls out her umbrella yet again "Muggles say it's bad luck to open these things inside places or what not but since I'm sitting with the literal definition of a bad luck charm I should be fine. Sorry, Harold, but y'know it's true."

Harry gives her a sarcastic laugh before jumping out of the carriage and making a mad-dash to the castle. The others follow behind them, neither Aurelia or Neville are touched by the rain thanks to the charmed umbrella.

"God damn I hate rain." Aurelia exclaims once the pair of them are safely inside the Entrance Hall.

"So do I." Neville agrees, laughing lightly.

Aurelia smiles softly, closing her umbrella and pulling out her wand and muttering: "Tergeo."

The umbrella magically wipes itself dry then Aurelia shoves it back in her messenger bag.

She glances around the Entrance Hall "Well, I'm glad that — woah! What the fuck!"

Neville pulls her back by the collar of his jacket she's wearing without warning and a red, water-filled balloon misses her by inches and instead hits Ron who screams.

Her and Neville share a knowing look as they say: "Peeves." in sync.

Professor McGonagall comes sweeping into the Entrance Hall, yelling angrily at Peeve to stop what he's doing.

The professor slips on the wet floor and nearly comes crashing to the floor but she stops the fall by using Hermione's neck.

"Ouch! Sorry, Miss. Granger — PEEVES! Peeves get down here now!"

"Ever wonder what it'd be like to go to a Muggle school — a normal school?" Aurelia asks Neville.

"Nowhere near as entertaining as this." A voice that doesn't belong to Neville replies.

Both Neville and Aurelia turn to see, Olivia Newton, standing before them.

Olivia grins at them "Peeves the prat's been doing since I got here, I heard that he got poor Sprout with one."

Aurelia looks down at her friend who's two inches shy from being a whole foot shorter than her and smiles. Olivia's dark brown, way hair is pulled up into a tight bun and she had a Led Zeppelin sweater thrown over her uniform to keep herself warm.

"Heard you beat death." Olivia says lightly.

Aurelia blinks and laughs softly "More like someone tried to kill me but missed."

"Oh."

"How did you hear that, I thought your parents didn't like to know about our world?"

"Gossip, love." Olivia says, "That's how. . . Sooo, what happened, I need details!"

I'll tell you in the dorms, merlin knows everyone and their mother are going to be asking me that." Aurelia sighs.

"Move along now, everyone into the Great Hall!" Professor McGonagall demands sharply.

Aurelia links her one arm with Olivia's and the other with Neville's, glancing at Olivia as she asks: "Shall we sit with this mighty Gryffindor tonight, Liv?"

Olivia glances at Neville and gives a curt nod "I think we shall, Blue."

They're not supposed to sit at the other house tables during the Start-of-Terms and End-of-Term feasts as well as dinners. However, that never stopped them, Aurelia's been sneaking over to the Gryffindor table at dinner since the Halloween feast during first year. Eventually, Olivia and Natalie joined her and they've never been told not to, Neville knows for a fact that Professor McGonagall sees them but she's never made them go back to their own tables. She doesn't encourage it though, she's often given Aurelia and the others disapproving looks when she's spotted them.

The three of them head over to the Gryffindor table, Aurelia and Olivia skipping merrily as Neville struggles to follow their lead.

"Good evening." Nearly Headless Nick greets the group of Gryffindor plus the two Hufflepuffs. He doesn't look to thrilled to see the Hufflepuff but he's too used to their presence to say anything.

"Says who?" Harry retorts, dumping water out of his shoe.

"Look, Grease Lightning, no one asked for this little attitude of yours, so quit your sass and sit down on your ass." Olivia quips, sitting next to Seamus.

Harry glares intensely at Olivia "Don't call me that!"

"Make me, spud." Olivia teases, winking at him.

Aurelia rolls her eyes, Olivia and her _Grease_ references. _At this point_ , Aurelia thinks to herself, _they have a higher chance of killing Harry than Voldemort does_.

Neville sits down at the table, Aurelia plops down right by his side.

"There better be cheesecake." Aurelia tells him.

He chuckles "Look, I will — will take you for cheesecake tomorrow in the kitchens if there's none out here tonight, Ari."

"If there's cheesecake tonight will you still take me for more tomorrow?" Aurelia asks, _it could be like a date — no! What the fuck, Blue_?!

"If you want."

"I always want cheesecake, Plant Boy."

"I couldn't tell, Sunflower Girl."

The grin at each other and burst out laughing.

"What are you two nerds laughing at?" Seamus asks, he only gets louder laughter in response.

Seamus looks at Dean and Olivia but, they're just as confused as he is.

"Oh, hurry up, I'm so hungry I could eat a whole Hippogriff." Ron moans loudly.

No sooner does he speak do the doors of the Great Hall open and Professor McGonagall comes in, leading the batch of first years behind her, who look more like drowned rats than eleven-year-old kids.

They come to a halt at the top of the hall where Professor McGonagall sets up the stool and the Sorting Hat.

As dumb as it sounds, Aurelia loathes the Sorting Ceremony. She loathes how she has to watch a kid's face fall when they don't get into the house they want or when their face lights up when the do get into the the house they want.

 _It's not_ _fair_.

She never got that, she just disappointed everyone around her.

As it does every year, the Sorting Hat sings a song to commence the Sorting Ceremony. Harry, who's missed the previous two Sorting because, well, he's Harry Potter, remarks: "That's not the same song it sang when it sorted us."

"Sings a different one every year. It's got to be a pretty boring life, hasn't it, being a hat? I suppose it spends all year making up the next one." Ron says.

"Ye never know, it might just make them up at the drop of a . . . Hat." Aurelia quips, smiling brightly.

Ron looks at her with a straight face "Shut the bloody hell up, Blue."

Aurelia laughs quietly and Neville covers his mouth to stifle his giggles.

Professor McGonagall begins calling out the names of the first years to be sorted.

"Ackerly, Stewart!"

The hat is placed upon the first year's head: "RAVENCLAW!"

"Baddock, Malcolm!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

Fred and George hiss at the poor kid as he goes to sit at the Slytherin table, they do that a lot even though their best friend, Elliot, is a bloody Slytherin. Aurelia claps loudly to drown out their hissing, as soon as Malcolm sits down she stops clapping to stare forlornly at the Slytherins.

"That should've been me." Aurelia mumbles sadly.

"You're meant to be in huff — Hufflepuff." Neville whispers, grabbing Aurelia's hand and squeezing it, "You — you're the most Hufflepuff person I've ever met, mi — minus your lack of pay — patience. . . Being sorted into Slytherin wouldn't have solved anything just — just like being sort — sorted into Gryffindor didn't make things better for me and Lyra."

At the mention of her aunt, Aurelia glances up at the staff to take a look at her aunt. Her least favourite aunt, and that's saying something. However, she hates Lyra for a completely different reason than Bellatrix, she hates Bellatrix for what she did to Neville's parents and being a bad person and then she hates Lyra for how she treats her and Neville, she's terrible to Neville. Lyra's an absolute demon.

Lyra likes to act like she had escaped the rottenness that plagues the Black family but she hadn't. She's just as rotten as the rest of them, just in a different way; she may not be prejudice but she's still a raging bitch.

Aurelia had hoped that when she had been sorted in Hufflepuff that it would mean that maybe Lyra would warm up to her. She hadn't; she got worse.

"I guess yer right." Aurelia mumbles, turning her attention back to the Sorting Ceremony.

"Madley, Laura!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

She claps for her newest housemate.

"McDonald, Natalie!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"I do hope this year's batch of Gryffindors are up to scratch. We don't want to break our winning streak, do we?" Nearly Headless Nick says.

Except you didn't deserve to win in first year, Aurelia thinks while rolling her eyes. Of course, she believes that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville had deserved to be rewarded for their heroics that year, she just thinks that the Headmaster could've rewarded them by another means than the House bloody Cup. Slytherin had rightfully deserved it that year — _also_ , Neville deserved more than ten measly points!

Finally, the last student is called up to be sorted, he ends up in Hufflepuff and the Sorting Ceremony comes to an end, Professor Dumbledore gets to his feet, his arms wide open in welcome as he says: "I have only two words for you: tuck in."

Aurelia doesn't need to be told twice, reaching for the mashed potatoes as soon as they appear on the table, she fills half her plate with them.

"You and your mashed potatoes." Neville laughs, shaking his head.

Aurelia looks up at him, her heavily-lidded eyes going wider than usual "I fucking love mashed potatoes."

Neville opens his mouth to say something but a clanging sound interrupts them, the pair turn to look and they find that Hermione's knocked over her goblet of pumpkin juice.

"There are house-elves here? Here at Hogwarts?" Hermione asks Nearly Headless Nick, horrorstruck.

"Certainly, The largest number in any dwelling in Britain, I believe. Over a hundred." He replies

"I've never seen one!"

"Well, they hardly ever leave the kitchen by day, do they? They come out at night to do a bit of cleaning . . . See to the fires and so on . . . I mean, you're not supposed to see them, are you? That's the mark of a good House-Elf, isn't it, that you don't know it's there?" Nearly Headless Nick explains.

"But they get paid? They get holidays, don't they? And — and sick leave, and pensions, and everything?" Hermione questions fervently.

The ghosts chortles loudly "Sick leave and pensions? House-Elves don't want sick leave and pensions!"

"He's right, Hermione!" Aurelia cuts in, seeing the apprehensive look on her face, "House-Elves like to work for free, it's typically in their nature. Here at Hogwarts, I highly doubt they're being refused those things you've listed it's just that they don't want it. I'm sure if they asked they'd be give those things right away. Hogwarts treats their House-Elves far better than most."

Still, Hermione pushes her plate away, through a mouthful of food, Ron tries to encourage her to eat but Hermione doesn't listen.

"Slave labor! That's what made this dinner. Slave labor." Hermione huffs, breathing hard through her nose.

"Oh, boy." Aurelia mumbles, rolling her eyes.

Neville's talking about dress robes, discussing what they might possibly need dress robes for. This surprises Aurelia for a moment because Neville's godmother is a professor Hogwarts so he should've heard about the Triwizard Tournament but then Aurelia remembers Lyra's a piece of shit that doesn't tell him anything unless there's criticism involved.

"Did you have to get dress robes, Ari?" Neville wonders.

"Yep! I got a dress and the Disney Princesses won't know what hit 'em!" She replies.

Neville stares at her confused and Dean laughs at her comment.

Finally the first course of the feast comes to an end and the food replaces itself with desserts. Aurelia scans the table for her precious cheesecake, when spots it she lets out a blissful sighs. She grabs a large piece of it and digs in.

"Happy now?" Neville asks, smiling softly.

"Very." Aurelia replies then shoves a forkful of cheesecake in her mouth.

The desserts eventually clear themselves from the table and once more, Professor Dumbledore gets to his feet, announcing: "Now that we are all fed and watered, I must once more ask for your attention, while I give out a few notices."

Aurelia starts to chew on her nails nervously, knowing that one of those notices are going to be about the damned Triwizard Tournament.

Neville gently pulls her fingers from her mouth, reminding her: "You said not — not to let you bite your nails . . . Why are you nervous? You only bite your nails when you're really nervous?"

"You'll see in a few minutes." She says cryptically.

Neville raises an eyebrow, curious to know what she's on about so he turns his attention back to the Headmaster.

"— If anybody would like to check it out. As ever, I would like to remind you all that the forest on the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year. It is also my painful duty to inform you all that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."

Aurelia chokes on her spit.

No doubt that's because of the Triwizard Tournament. _Y'know what_ , Aurelia thinks, _double fuck this tournament. First it has the audacity to be life-threateningly dangerous, then it has the audacity to get my Quidditch games cancelled_.

"This is bullshit." Aurelia huffs angrily, she had practiced real hard this summer.

"This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy — but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely —"

"Ah, yes! Everyone enjoys a good tournament full of painful death!" Aurelia huffs sarcastically to herself.

"I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts —"

There's a deafening rumble of thunder that causes Aurelia to scream, one hand covers her mouth to muffle her scream while the other reaches out to cling onto Neville's jumper.

The doors to the Great Hall open and in clambers Mad-Eye Moody.

Aurelia's eyes widen in realisation "Oh, fuck! He hired him for DADA?! Great, now there's three professors here who hate me."

Mad-Eye Moody had been the one to try and convict her father and had been the one to arrest her aunt.

In the ruins of Almerry Castle or so Nym had told her, is where they had found Bellatrix hiding. Nym describes Almerry as being in ruins but that's just how Moody and the other Aurors saw it, Moody had been the one to find her first and Nym tells her that their aunt had almost went peacefully — surprising, she knows — but then something happened, Nym never tells her what exactly, and long story short two of the Aurors wound up dead and Moody lost three teeth.

"Are you alright, Ari?" Neville asks her.

"Thunder scared me, that's all." Aurelia replies, swallowing her guilt.

Neville nods, seemingly satisfied with her answer then they turn their attention to Moody as he walks up to the teacher's table, his one foot clunking with every step.

Moody shakes hands with Professor Dumbledore then sits at the table, the Headmaster announces that Moody is their new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. No one claps save for Professor Dumbledore and Hagrid.

Clearing his throat, Professor Dumbledore continues his speech: "As I was saying, we have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

"YOU'RE JOKING!" Fred exclaims loudly.

The Great Hall fills with laughter at Fred's outburst and Dumbledore chuckles appreciatively.

"I am not joking, Mr. Weasley, though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar . . ."

Professor McGonagall clears her throat loudly.

"Er — but maybe this is not the time . . . No . . . Where was I? Ah yes, the Triwizard Tournament . . . Well, some of you will not know what this tournament involves, so I hope those who do know will forgive me for giving a short expla- nation, and allow their attention to wander freely. The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of es- tablishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities — until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued."

"And whose bright idea was it to bring it back?" Aurelia mutters sarcastically.

"There have been several attempts over the centuries to reinstate the tournament," Dumbledore continued, "none of which has been very successful. However, our own departments of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports have decided the time is ripe for another attempt. We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that this time, no champion will find himself or herself in mortal danger. The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short-listed contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money."

The Great Hall breaks out in eager whispers.

"The heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age — that is to say, seventeen years or older — will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration."

Eager whispers turn to angry cries of outrage. However, Aurelia's never felt more relieved in her entire life.

 _Oh, thank, Merlin_!

She's safe! She can't be chosen even as a joke! Aurelia sighs loudly as relief washes over her and the rest of the Headmaster's speech goes in through one ear and out the other.

Half the bloody horror stories, she had read about the Tournament can't come true now. She's safe and so are her friends save for Cedric and Elliot who'll be turning seventeen shortly.

When the speech comes to an end, Aurelia bids Neville a goodnight and a spontaneous kiss on the cheek — you really need to control yourself, girl! And then she rushes towards her fellow Hufflepuffs before she can see his reaction.

* * *

In the morning, Neville still feels as though he's on cloud nine. Aurelia had kissed his cheek last night and as sad as it may sound, it had made his entire year.

She does have soft lips, he had guessed right.

"Today's not bad . . . Outside all morning." Ron says, reading over their schedules.

Neville hasn't looked over his yet, he's still thinking about the fact Aurelia had kissed his cheek.

"Herbology with Hufflepuffs —"

Neville perks up at this, glancing over at the Hufflepuff table. Aurelia's still not up yet, at this rate, she's going to have a very late start. It's not unusual for her to sleep in on school days, she just doesn't like it when she does. Neville knows that if she's not in the Great Hall within the next five minutes, she'll be in a foul mood for the rest of the day.

Dean nudges his shoulder "Hey, I think Professor Black's coming over here."

Neville looks away from the Hufflepuff table and he straightens his posture. His mouth runs dry and his palms grown sweaty, he hopes he looks decent.

"Relax, Neville, it's your godmum, not Snape." Dean says, raising a questioning eyebrow at how pale Neville's become.

Neville swallows thickly and turns to face his sneering godmother. Lyra Black sneering is not a bad sign, it's just her default expression.

"Hi." Neville mumbles weakly, wiping his sweaty palms on his trousers.

Lyra's grey eyes narrow "Don't mumble, Neville."

He nods, avoiding eye contact with the intimidating woman.

Lyra's wild blonde curls frame her long face, her features are sharp, her eyes are heavily-lidded, and her red painted lips are pulled into a terrifying scowl.

"You better behave this year, Neville, your actions last year were severely disappointing if you're parents knew about what you did they'd be extremely disappointed you. Do not let something like that happen again. You need to start acting like a Longbottom, stop bringing shame to your family name."

"It — it won't." He stammers shamefully.

Lyra gives him a once over "It better not, Neville — did you even brush your hair today? You —"

"Heya, Plant Boy!" Aurelia says loudly, pushing past Lyra in a rough manner, "Heard we got Herbology together, we should get going!"

"Ari!" He says breathlessly, positively delighted that she's here. Just in time to save him from Lyra's rant.

"Goo — Good morning, Ari, you're right, w — we do."

Lyra mutters something that he doesn't catch but Aurelia does.

"Call me that again an' ah will naw yer bloody arm off!" Aurelia snarls at her.

Lyra doesn't give Aurelia a detention for that threat. Aurelia could _literally_ naw her arm off and still Lyra wouldn't give out a detention because that would mean spending more time than necessary with Aurelia and that's the last thing Lyra wants.

Lyra scowls at Aurelia before stalking away.

Aurelia holds out a shaking hand for Neville to take "C'mon on, Plant Boy, we should get to class! I'm sure Professor Sprout's missed her prized student."

"Oh, hush, Sunflower Girl!" Neville says, blushing deeply.

"I only speak the truth, Plant Boy!" Aurelia laughs, linking arms with Neville.

* * *

Besides almost throwing up in Herbology class because of those bloody Bobotubers had been nasty, the first day of class had passed without major incident Even Muggles Studies which is taught by Lyra had gone smoothly; Lyra's surprisingly a good teacher, she leaves Aurelia and Neville alone during class unlike Snape.

Aurelia's pretty pleased with how the day had tuned out considering how it started. And then:

"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!"

Her brother's loud voice echoes around the Entrance Hall. Aurelia and Neville share exasperated looks, he couldn't wait until after dinner to make a scene?

"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley! Listen to this" Draco says and then starts to read from an article loudly so that everyone can hear.

Aurelia pushes her way through the crowd to get to Draco and scold him for being a little shit.

"And there's a picture!" Draco exclaims, "A picture of your parents outside their house — if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?"

"Get stuffed, Malfoy," Harry snaps.

"Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you, Potter? So tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?"

Aurelia pushes past a Ravenclaw, finally reaching her brother.

"You know your mother, Malfoy? That expression she's got, like she's got dung under her nose? Has she always looked like that, or was it just because you were with her?"

"Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter!" Draco snarls.

"You hypocrite!" Aurelia shouts, stomping up to her brother but Crabbe steps in her way before she can reach him.

"Keep your fat mouth shut, then!" Harry tells him, turning away.

Draco pulls out his wand.

"Draco, no!" Aurelia exclaims, "That's not fair!"

He shouts a spell at Harry — _BANG_!

Aurelia gasps in horror, snapping her head to look at Harry, the spell misses him.

 _BANG_!

"Oh, no you don't, laddie!" Professor Moody yells.

A stunned silence falls over the hall and the squeaking chatter of a ferret can be heard. Slowly, Aurelia turns her head to look at her brother as Professor Moody clambers over to him.

"Merlin's beard!" Aurelia breathes, eyes widening in shock because Professor Moody's turned her brother into a fucking ferret.

Professor Moody asks Harry if he's alright and Aurelia as well as Crabbe move it grab Draco.

"LEAVE IT!" Moody roars.

Crabbe freezes but Aurelia continues to reach for her brother\ferret.

"I don't think so!" Moody growls as limps forward, shoving Aurelia aside he points his wand at Draco.

"Hey, leave him alone!" Aurelia snarls, her brother doesn't deserve this kind of punishment.

Moody ignores her, growling: "I don't like people who attack when their opponent's back's turned! Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do!" he uses his wand to make the ferret bounce up and down, Draco squeals in pain.

"There's no reason to do that!" St — stop! You're hurting him!" Aurelia screams, slamming her fists against Moody's back.

The ferret hits the stone floor repeatedly, squealing louder and louder with each impact. Tears burn, Aurelia's eyes, her brother's in pain.

"STOPS!" Aurelia shrieks, drawing her wand but she doesn't need to retaliate because Professor McGonagall has entered the building.

"Professor Moody!" Professor McGonagall says in a shocked voice and Aurelia's flooded with relief.

"Professor! He's turned Draco into a ferret!" Aurelia exclaims.

Professor McGonagall's eyes widen in alarm, books falling from her arms as she pulls out her wand and changes Draco back.

"Moody, we never use Transfiguration as a punishment! Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that?" Professor McGonagall says weakly.

"Draco, are you alright?" Aurelia asks softly.

He sneers at her, Pansy strikes him in the ribs, muttering: "She's just trying to be nice, Draco."

"I'm fine." He says, shooting Pansy a dirty look, she shrugs at him.

"We give detentions, Moody! Or speak to the offender's Head of House!" Professor McGonagall scolds.

"I'll do that, then." Moody says, staring at Draco with great dislike.

"You should be fired!" Aurelia hisses, "He didn't deserve to be punished like that!"

Moody stares at her with almost murderous intent but he's distracted by Draco who mutters:

"My father will hear about this."

 _Ah, there it is_. _True Draco fashion at its finest_. Aurelia rolls her eyes, realising that his ego's more wounded than he is, she turns on her heel and heads back to Neville's side.

"Did that really just happen?" Neville asks, sounding totally awed.

"What? Draco being a dramatic bitch and Moody being a little bitch?"

"Yeah, that." Neville giggles.

"Unfortunately, yes."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhhh, I can't end chapters well but what else is new? Draco may be an occasional little bitch to Aurelia but that won't stop her from fucking up anyone who fucks with Draco. Also you know what happens next, don't ya? Better get your tissues, kiddies because it's going to be an emotional ride! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I would really appreciate it if you could let me know what you thought of it!


	13. | XI: ❝Stab Your Back❞

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! In the past week I have written four (4) chapters for this story and I am almost done a fifth, I'm on a roll! I hope you enjoy the chapter, please leave a review letting me know what you thought of it, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated!

****

**CHAPTER xi** ** _!_**  
Stab Your Back

* * *

  **MOST** , **IF NOT ALL** , **OF HER FRIENDS ARE** excited for Professor Moody's lesson but Aurelia's anything but. After what he had done to her brother, they way he had looked like he wanted to murder her for defending her brother who was in pain, terrified her. She'd do anything to skip his lesson.

Since her friends, for whatever reasons, are so excited for Professor Moody's lesson, she keeps her disdain about it to herself but Neville, of course, can see that she's unnerved about something.

"Are you alright, Ari?" Neville asks as Aurelia and Hermione try to teach him a Scouring Charm.

Aurelia nods "I'm fine, why?"

"You don't look fine, you look nervous."

"I'm not nervous." Aurelia replies shortly, "Besides, shouldn't I be the one askin' if your alright, I'm not the one who had to dismember a barrel of toads the previous night."

"I — I'm fine." He stammers, he's still shaken up about it.

That makes Aurelia very angry, she's determined to make Professor Snape's life hell for the next month.

"You know why Snape's been in a foul mood, don't you?" Ron mumbles to Harry.

"Moody." Harry says

"Nah, it's 'cause he's a foul git." Aurelia replies, "Moody should turn him into a ferret."

Harry and Ron snicker at the thought. Harry says thoughtfully: "I reckon Snape's a bit scared of him, you know."

"Imagine if Moody turned Snape into a horned toad." Ron says gleefully, "And bounced him all around his dungeon. . ."

As much as she dislikes Moody, she'd love to witness that.

"I'd give the entire Black family vault to see that and it'd be worth it." Aurelia sighs blissfully.

She looks back at Neville who looks a lot happier now that his fingernails had been cleaned, a surge of anger courses through her veins as she thought of what it must've been like for him to have spent hours upon hours of disembowelling toads. _Fuck, Professor Snape, he's a little asshole_.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Neville asks again, seeing the troubled look on Aurelia's face.

"Something about Professor Moody scares me, I know Fred and them said he was amazing but something about Moody ain't right." She rambles nervously.

Neville grabs her hand, squeezing it reassuringly as he tells her: "Don't wor — worry, Ari, besides he can't be as bad as Lockhart."

"You're right, you're right." She sighs, smiling nervously, "Nothing could be as bad as that."

Feeling slightly better about the lesson, her and Neville head up to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Harry and Ron follow behind them.

Along the way, Ron and Harry eagerly discuss what the lesson might be about. Their theories do nothing to sooth her nerves, so she keeps a tight hold on Neville's hand in hopes of keeping herself grounded. That also does little to help her.

When they arrive, Neville and Aurelia sit down at a table next to Olivia and Hannah, it's not long until they hear Professor Moody's distinctive clunking footsteps coming down the corridor. He enters the room, looking as frightening as ever.

"You can put those away." He growls as he stamps over to his desk and sits down, "Those books. You won't need them."

Putting her book away, Aurelia doesn't know whether to feel more nervous or feel slightly giddy. When Professor Lupin had told the class they wouldn't need their books it had usually followed by something exciting.

Professor Moody takes out a register and starts calling out names, his normal eye moving steadily down the list whilst his magical eye swivels around, fixing upon students as they answer.

"L — Black, Aurelia." He calls out her name, there's a tone of malice that's different from his normal tone of voice.

"Here." Aurelia replies meekly, her stomach twists with nerves.

He glares at her a moment longer then he continues on with the list.

She wants out of this class.

"Right then." He says, when the last person had declared themselves present, "I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you've had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling Dark Creatures — you've covered boggarts, Red Caps, Hinkypunks, Grindylows, Kappas, and Werewolves, is that right?"

There's a general murmur of assent.

"But you're behind — very behind — on dealing with curses. So, I'm here to bring you up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other. I've got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark —"

"What, aren't you staying?" Ron blurts out.

Moody's magical eye spins around to stare at Ron and then, surprisingly, Moody smiles. A smile which makes his heavily scarred face look more twisted and contorted than ever. A smile which unnerves Aurelia.

"You'll be Arthur Weasley's son, eh?" Moody questions, "Your father got me out of a very tight corner a few days ago . . . Yeah, I'm staying just the one year. Special favor to Dumbledore... One year, and then back to my quiet retirement."

 _Oh, thank fucking Merlin_!

He gives a harsh laugh, then claps his gnarled hands together "So — straight into it. Curses. They come in many strengths and forms. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I'm supposed to teach you countercurses and leave it at that. I'm not supposed to show you what illegal Dark curses look like until you're in the sixth year. You're not supposed to be old enough to deal with it till then. But Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves, he reckons you can cope, and I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen? A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to tell you what he's about to do. He's not going to do it nice and polite to your face. You need to be prepared. You need to be alert and watchful. You need to put that away, Miss. Brown, when I'm talking."

From behind her Aurelia hears a chair scraping against the floor and she assumes it's Lavender Brown who's probably trying to act like she hasn't done anything wrong.

"So . . . Do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?"

 _Well, shit,_ Aurelia thinks, _this can't be good_!

Several hands rise tentatively into the air. Professor Moody points at Ron, though his magical eye's still fixed on Lavender.

"Er — my dad told me about one . . . Is it called the Imperius Curse, or something?"

"Ah, yes," Professor Moody says appreciatively, "Your father would know that one. Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse."

Professor Moody gets up on his feet, opened his desk drawer, and takes out a glass jar. Three large black spiders are scuttling around inside it. He reaches into the jar, catches one of the spiders, and holds it in the palm of his hand so that class can see it. He then points his wand at it and mutters, "Imperio!"

The spider leaps from Professor Moody's hand on a fine thread of silk and begins to swing backward and forward as though on a trapeze. It stretches out its legs rigidly, then does a back flip, breaking the thread and landing on the desk, where it begins to cartwheel in circles. Professor Moody jerks his wand, and the spider rises onto two of its hind legs and went into what's unmistakably a tap dance.

Everyone starts laughing, Aurelia doesn't, she can't bring herself too. She supposes it might be a funny sight to see but she knows that the Imperious Curse isn't funny, she had been placed under it many times when she was in the care of her parents. Her father used it to keep her in line but she had eventually built up an immunity to it and had become practically useless to him.

"Think it's funny, do you?" He growls, "You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?"

The laughter dies away almost instantly.

"Total control." He says quietly as the spider balls itself up and begins to roll over and over, "I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats."

Aurelia feels sick, _what the fuck was wrong with him_?!

"Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being con- trolled by the Imperius Curse." Professor Moody explains, "Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act, and who was acting of their own free will. The Imperius Curse can be fought, and I'll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character, and not everyone's got it. Better avoid being hit with it if you can. CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

Everyone jumps and Aurelia even falls out of her chair, it goes unnoticed by everyone as they're so absorbed in the lesson. She quickly climbs back onto the chair before anyone does.

Moody picks up the somersaulting spider and throws it back into the jar "Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?"

Hermione's hand flies into the air again and so does Neville's.

 _Oh no_ , Aurelia thinks, _oh no, oh fuck_.

Neville even looks surprised at his own daring.

Aurelia can feel her heart racing, her stomach is twisting so violently she think she might throw up. She should have just walked out of that class the second Professor Moody had mentioned the Unforgivable Curses.

The professor's magical eye rolls over to fix on Neville "Yes?"

Olivia glances over at Aurelia, a look of concern on her face. Aurelia's visibly shaking and paler than usual. Hannah, who's sitting with Olivia seems to notice Aurelia's odd behavior as well as Neville's.

"There's one — the Cruciatus Curse." Neville says in a small voice.

Professor Moody looks at him, intently with both eyes "Your name's Longbottom?"

Neville nods nervously, and the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor turns his back to the class as he reaches into the jar, pulling out another spider.

"The Cruciatus Curse . . ." Professor Moody begins, ". . . Needs to be a bit bigger for you to get the idea . . . Engorgio!"

At this point Aurelia has dug her nails so deeply into her palms, that they're starting to bleed, she squeezes her eyes shut as the Professor raises his wand once again.

"Crucio." Professor Moody mutters.

 _Her father standing over her, a look of horror on his face as his eyes dart between his wand and her crumbled body_.

_Aunt Bellatrix pointing her crooked wand at Joseph MacDonald, while snarling: "How dare you threaten her! CRUCIO —"_

_Gwendoline Goyle laughing maniacally as she points her wand at Aurelia screaming "Cru — CIO!"_

It's all _there_ , right in front of her eyes.

She can almost feel the pain of the Curse burning through her body.

 _MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP_!

Aurelia's body's shaking badly, and there are tears pricking the corner of her eyes.

_The Death-Eater's right in front of her — so close, too close._

Aurelia's going to die.

_Gwendoline's going to kill her._

"No, no, no, no, no." Aurelia mutters, _this can't be real. Gwendoline can't be here. I can't be there._

 _You're at Hogwarts_ , Aurelia closes her eyes and grips the edge of her desk tightly, _you are at Hogwarts._

She feels eyes burning into the top of her skull. When she looks up, _Gwendoline's still there but she seems to be closer now._

"No, no, no, no."

_"Do you actually think that someone's going to help you, Wolfie?" Gwendoline croons._

Aurelia lets out a strangled cry of: "No!"

" _Pathetic_ — Ari, are you — _but, I do love it when_ — alright? — _they put up a_ — Ari, what's wrong? — _fight_!"

Aurelia feels someone — _Goyle! It's Goyle! She's going to kill me_! — grab her arm but she yanks it back and then punches in the general direction of where they should be.

There's no shrill shriek likes she expects but a collective gasp and a boy muttering: "Bloody hell!"

"Neville, are you alright?" Seamus' Irish accent cuts through her panicked thoughts.

Aurelia blinks, _you are at Hogwarts_. _You are safe_.

 _You just had one of_ ** _those_** _again_.

 _Stupid girl_ , she scolds herself, how could she possibly think that Gwendoline had been there.

Aurelia looks at Neville, who's holding the side of his face — _Holy shit, I punched him_!

 _Oh, Merlin! What have I done_?!

He looks horrified — _Of her? Of the lesson_? Aurelia's not sure which but she feels terribly guilty. She opens her mouth to apolgise but no sound comes out, her mind is still reeling from what she had went through.

What's wrong with her?

Besides the Hyperthymesia, the Muggle doctor had never found anything wrong with her when she had visited. Then again, her twelve-year-old self hadn't been very forthcoming about her troubles, because at the root of them all lies the terrible fact she had been attacked by a werewolf, and werewolves aren't real according to Muggles.

"— Yes, the last and the worst. Avada Kedavra . . . The Killing Curse."

A chill runs down Aurelia's spine as she recalls the bright green light that had almost killed her.

Professor Moody pulls out the third spider and Aurelia wants to scream at him to stop but she finds herself frozen in her spot, unable to get the protest out.

He raises his wand "Avada Kedavra!"

The blinding green light seems to snap Aurelia out of her dazed state. The spider dies instantaneously and a sob forces its way out of her throat, hot tears slide down her cheeks.

That had almost been her.

"Not nice, not pleasant. And there's no countercurse. There's no blocking it. Only two known people have ever survived it, and there sitting right in front of me." Moody says calmly, referring to Harry and Aurelia, though both his eyes are locked on Harry.

She hadn't really survived the Killing Curse, that had just been a rumour.

"Avada Kedavra's a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind it. You could all get your wands out now and point them at me and say the words, and I doubt I'd get so much as a nosebleed. But that doesn't matter. I'm not here to teach you how to do it." Moody explains.

Aurelia shudders, glancing at Neville. He still looks horrified as he watches Professor Moody drone on about the Unforgivable Curses, the one side of his face is really red.

She did that.

She _hurt_ him.

 _You horrible, stupid girl_! She scolds herself, _you_ —

"— CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

Aurelia jumps in her seat, letting out a frightened gasp.

"Now . . . These three curses — Avada Kedavra, Imperius, and Cruciatus — are known as the Unforgivable Curses. Any use of them will earn you a one-way ticket to Azkaban." Professor Moody growls, giving Aurelia a pointed look.

 _Go choke on a dick_ , Aurelia thinks, glaring at him.

"That's what you're up against. That's what I've got to teach you to fight. You need preparing. You need arming. But most of all, you need to practice constant, never-ceasing vigilance. Get out your quills . . . Copy this down. . . ."

For the rest of the lesson, no one speaks. Once they're dismissed, Neville and Aurelia scurry out the classroom like mice running from a hungry cat.

Aurelia apologises profusely to Neville as they hurry down the corridor but Neville doesn't say anything.

They come to an halt in a passage way just off to the side of the classroom. It's not far enough from Moody, by Aurelia's standards, but it'll do for now.

"Neville, I — I'm sorry. I did — didn't mean to hit you, I —" She cuts herself off, does she tell him what really happened despite the probability of him thinking she's crazy.

Neville stares at the wall in front of them with a horrified, wide-eyed look. She realises, at this moment, he probably doesn't care that she hit him, he had just witnessed the same dark curse that had taken his parents away from him, he must be traumatised.

"Nev, are you alright?" Aurelia asks gently, "Maybe, we can go to the greenhouses, that might help take your mind off things."

Neville looks at Aurelia but he doesn't look at her, his eyes are still focused on something far away, brimming with tears.

She wonders if he remembers the night his parents had been attacked — _was he even there_? Is he having one of those things that she gets.

Gently and slowly, she takes his hand into her and traces patterns on his surprising smooth palm.

Neville, Blue?" Hermione asks gently as she approaches them, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Aurelia asks defensively, now they must think something's really wrong with her.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stare at her skeptically.

"Neville?" Hermione asks again.

Neville blinks as he looks at his three friends "Oh, hello!" he says in an unnaturally high voice, "Interesting lesson, wasn't it? I wonder what's for dinner, I'm — I'm starving, aren't you?"

"Neville, are you alright?"

"Oh, yes! I'm fine!" Neville says squeezing Aurelia's hand as he looks around at them, "Very interesting dinner — I mean, lesson — what's for dinner?"

"Neville, what —"

Hermione's question gets cut off by Professor Moody who approaches the group.

He places a hand on Neville's shoulder and speaks in a surprisingly soft growl: "It's alright, sonny."

He looks at Neville than at Aurelia "Why don't you two come up to my office? . . . We can have a cup of tea."

Neville looks even more frightened at the prospect of tea with Moody, he neither moves nor speaks.

"We can't, Nev and I — no!" Aurelia exclaims, stammering nervously, she'd rather have tea with her Grandmother Druella — who has put poison in Aurelia's tea on more than one occasion, might she add — than with Professor Moody.

But, Professor Moody ignores her as he turns his magical eye on Harry "You alright, are you, Potter?"

"Yes," Harry replies quickly.

"You've got to know. It seems harsh, maybe, but you've got to know. No point pretending . . . Well . . . Come on, Longbottom, Black I've got some books that might interest you."

Both, Aurelia and Neville look to the trio of Gryffindors for help but they say nothing and they have no choice but to follow Professor Moody up to his office.

Professor Moody invites them into his office, he starts the tea right away and Aurelia prays this visit will be quick.

Aurelia and Neville are squeezing their hands so tightly, they've both gone slightly numb. They refuse to let go of each other, feeling too uneasy about being in the professor's company, they're the only comfort they have.

Professor Moody's magical eye locks onto their intertwined hands and an unnerving smile stretches across his scarred face.

"Good friends, huh? Sprout's told me all about you two, thick as thieves, she says." He says gruffly.

Neville becomes slightly less tense as he slowly nods his head "We're best friends."

Professor Moody changes the subject "I knew your parents." he states, smile growing slightly wide before turning into a frown, "Shame what happened to them, they were exceptional Aurors, I would know as I taught them everything they knew — and here you are befriending the niece of the woman who tortured your parents."

"Would they have cared?" Neville asks.

Aurelia grows tense, this answer can literally _destroy_ their friendship, she steals a quick glance at Neville, the expression isn't one of curiosity like she expects but rather one of defiance. A rare look for Neville Longbottom.

Professor Moody lets out short, harsh laugh "We'll never know their real answer to that, sonny, but your parents were rebels, especially your mother, my answer's that: if anything they'd encourage your forbidden friendship here."

Neville grips her hand tightly.

Professor Moody places cups of tea in front of the two of them, Aurelia doesn't dare touch hers. Her stomach feels sick, she's not sure she likes where this conversation is going.

"Ari's my best friend, my mum likes her. She sat by her bed the whole time she was at St. Mungo's." Neville says, smiling at Aurelia.

"Your mother liked her aunt too." Professor Mood says bluntly.

Neville chokes on his tea "What do you mean by _liked_?"

Aurelia's eyes widen in alarm, she never knew this.

"Your father did too, they thought Bellatrix could be trusted. They were friends as well, when they were younger, the three of them had been the best of friends. Look what happened to them. They were best friends like you and Black are. You should watch your back, Longbottom." Professor Moody says harshly.

"Why would I need to watch my back?" Neville asks, "Lestrange's in Azkaban."

 _Oh, you sweet, innocent child_.

Aurelia knows what's coming next but Neville's got no idea.

 _Sweet Neville_.

 _He's too kind for someone like me_.

"Your parents didn't watch their backs with Bellatrix and she stabbed them. In all due time, Black'll do the same to you."

A cold chill runs through her body but she's never felt so angry with a teacher before. She'd never hurt Neville. _Never_.

"No, she — she won't. Ari's my best friend. I trust her with my life." Neville says defensively but he's shaking nervously in his seat.

"I wouldn't make that mistake if I were you, you wouldn't want to end up like your parents. Black'll stab you in the back when you least expect it, just like her —"

Aurelia shoots out of the chair, her hair and face red with anger, there's a fiery feeling she's never felt before coursing through her veins. There are so many things she'd like to say to Moody but her brain can't seem to string a coherent sentence together, she's _so_ angry.

So, Aurelia screams loudly, slamming her fist on his desk and spilling her hot, untouched tea.

"FUCK YOU!"

And she stomps out of his office, knocking things over for good measure as she takes her leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sTaB mY bAcK, iTs bEtTEr WHeN i bLEeD fOR yOU,,, Moody's a little bitch but are we really that surprised? Also his character is so hard to write and I don't think I did it justice, I tried to let Barty Jr. slide through a bit since he's alone with Aurelia and Neville, kids he knows no one will take seriously if they say anything about him acting off. But I also didn't want it to be too Barty so it kinda turned into a mess! Anyway, Noelle might possibly be returning next chapter! Woot, woot! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, please leave a review letting me know what you thought of it, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated!


	14. | XII: ❝All Knowing Abigale❞

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there and Happy New Year! I hope you enjoy the chapter, please leave a review letting me know what you thought of it, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated!

****

**CHAPTER xii** ** _!_**  
All Knowing Abigale

* * *

" **SO WHY ARE AVOIDING** , **NEVILLE**?" **HANNAH ASKS** , one lunch a couple weeks after the whole Moody thing.

Aurelia straightens out her tie, mumbling: "I'm not avoiding him, I just talked to him yesterday."

"Yeah, in class! And it was so awkward!" Hannah exclaims, "Watching the two of you interact yesterday made me want to gouge my eyes out!"

"You're just being dramatic now, Han!" Aurelia says rolling her eyes.

"Says you." Hannah huffs.

"Han's right. You're clearly avoiding, Longbottom. Why?" Olivia cuts in.

"I'm not!"

"Yeah, and I'm not totally head over heels for Ginny Weasley." Olivia laughs, unlike Aurelia, Olivia's openly bisexual and proud.

"But, you are." Nat says, completely oblivious to what Olivia actually meant by the remark.

Hannah smiles softly, placing her hand on Nat's arm as she informs her that: "Liv's just being sarcastic, hun."

"Oh."

"Has this got anything to do with you punching him?" Hannah questions, turning her attention back to Aurelia.

"Kinda." She mutters.

"Why don't you just apologise?"

"I did."

"Then why are you avoiding him?"

"Because I don't deserve a friend like him! I'm evil! I'm destined to be evil!" Aurelia mutters, shamefully.

There's a moment of a silence and for a minute, Aurelia thinks Hannah might actually agree with her but then the blonde shakes her head.

"That's not true, Blue. You and Neville do deserve each other." Hannah says, frowning.

"Yeah, Han's right!" Olivia says, biting into her muffin, "Longbottom's like the Princess Leia to your Han Solo!"

Hannah blinks, looking mildly confused as she asks: "Shouldn't that be the other way around?"

"If anything, Neville's the Luke Skywalker to my Han Solo." Aurelia corrects.

Olivia nods thoughtfully "Yeah, Longbottom's definitely more of a Luke Skywalker now that you mention it."

"I think we're getting off-topic here." Nat says, "What made you think that? Did Neville say something . . . Does he —"

"Moody. He said that I was gonna end up just like my aunt, evil and insane. He said I would hurt Neville one day because I was just like her." Aurelia replies glumly.

"Oh! That explains the hair!" Nat exclaims, casting an exasperated glance at Aurelia's raven-coloured curls. It's a colour that Nat thinks doesn't suit her at all; usually Aurelia keeps her hair anything but that colour.

"Yeah, I figured that I might as well get a head start on my slow descent into madness." Aurelia sighs, earning groans from the three girls.

"You melodramatic bitch!" Olivia sighs annoyed.

"Rude! I haven't even done anything!" Cedric gasps as he sits down next to Hannah.

Olivia rolls her eyes "I wasn't talking about you, you big ol' rat!"

"First of all, that's big ol' rat king, to you! Pipsqueak! Secondly, who are we talking about then?" Cedric says, leaning closer to the girls.

"It's just, Aurelia." Olivia replies, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, so nothing unusual's happened then?"

"Hey!" Aurelia gasps, looking at Cedric with false offense.

"You wouldn't have to sit our bullying if you had just sat with Neville!" Hannah sings, a teasing smile adorning her freckled face.

Cedric's eyes widen "So something did happen! Why aren't you sitting with Neville?"

"Well, I punched him —"

"Which she apologised for!"

"— And then Moody said that I was going to be just like my aunt. Just as crazy and evil as she is — was? Oh, bloody hell, I don't know. But, he's right!"

"Merlin's beard, I had such high hopes for Moody. I quite enjoyed his teaching methods but — well, he had no right to compare you to your aunt. Or any of your family. You're working very hard not to be like them and no one pays attentions to your efforts. Don't listen to, Moody! He doesn't know know you, Blue, but do you know who does?"

"Who?" Aurelia asks, still frowning despite Cedric's positive words.

Cedric grins widely before yelling out: "Hey! Neville come over here, will you?!"

Neville looks mortified by the fact that Cedric bloody Diggory had called him over. A lot of the students are now looking at him because of it.

Aurelia slaps Cedric's arm "What are ye doin'?! Ye rat!"

"Rat king."

Her eyes narrow, her face growing red with embarrassment as she slaps Cedric's arm multiple times "What would ye do that for, ye wee bitch!"

Neville scrambles over to the Hufflepuffs, almost tripping on his own two feet as he does so.

Cedric grins at Neville "Good afternoon, Neville! Hey, I was wondering what class do you have next?"

Neville looks equally confused and nervous as he stammers: "D — D — DA — DADA."

Cedric's grin widens "Well, would you look at that! So does, Blue! You two should walk to class together!"

"I will kill ye in yer sleep for this." Aurelia whispers in Cedric's ear.

"Threatens the girl who once got upset and apologised to a leaf because it crunched too loudly when you stepped on it." Cedric teases.

Neville looks between Aurelia and Cedric nervously. He doesn't think Aurelia'll want to walk with him, he's pretty certain that she's upset with for not defending her more to Moody.

They haven't had a decent conversation since then and he's very nervous. Neville's scared that their friendship is over, he doesn't want to lose Aurelia as a friend. She's his best friend without a doubt.

"I — I —"

Aurelia stands up, slinging her messenger bag over her shoulder "C'mon, Plant Boy, let's go."

She shoots Cedric one last dirty look before she grabs Neville's hand and drags him out of the Great Hall.

Neville glances at her, there are bags under her heavily-lidded, wide eyes and she looks sickly pale. He doesn't think she's brushed her hair this morning as it's curlier than usual and it's a very unusual black colour

"I'm sorry." Neville whispers nervously as they climb the stairs, Aurelia glances at him and raises an eyebrow.

"Why are you apologising?" Aurelia asks, confused.

"I didn't stand up for you." He replies.

"Yes, you did."

"Not well e — enough!" Neville stammers, "What kind of friend am I if — if I —"

"You're a wonderful friend!"

Neville shakes his head "No, I sh — should've said more, I sh —"

"The fact that you said something means a lot to me. You didn't have to say anything at all but you did and I can never thank you enough for that." Aurelia tells him, smiling softly.

"Oh . . . Well, I — I thought you we — were upset wit — with me because I did — didn't say enough." Neville stammers tearfully, "I thought you — you might not want to be friend any — anymore."

"Merlin, I punch you in the face and you worry that I won't want to be your friend anymore?"

"You did — didn't mean to and besides it didn't hurt that bad — okay, it hurt a lot. You have a great right hook." Neville says quickly.

"I'm sorry."

"You've already apologised . . . So, are we alright then? I mean, we're friends right? And — and we'll always be friends forever, won't we? No matter what anyone says or does, we'll stick by each other's sides through it all, right?" He asks, looking up at her hopefully.

Aurelia smiles brightly, holding out her pinky "I promise."

Neville blinks as he quickly tries to think of what he's supposed to do. He's seen Elliot and Aurelia do this before. He's supposed to wrap his pinky around her's — _yeah, that sounds about right_.

He wraps his pinky around her own and she gives it a little shake, her bright smile going wide.

"I promise too." Neville says.

"Well, we should probably get to class." Aurelia suggests after a moment of comfortable silence, Neville nods in agreement.

* * *

"We should probably skip this class." Aurelia whispers to Neville when Professor Moody announces he's going to teach them the Imperius Curse and its effects. Which, isn't as surprising as it should've been.

Aurelia's rather certain she's going to do well on this one, she's got experience with this curse. Technically speaking, she's got experience with all the Unforgivables; but's she's got the most experience with this one. Her dad put her under it a lot at social gatherings and for the longest time she had assumed it was her conscience speaking to her and she listened to it. Well, until it had told her not to touch the cookies and then she told it to 'sod off' because she really wanted those cookies. After that she started resisting it until she built up a decent immunity to it, specifically her father's Imperius.

She's not exactly sure she'll be able to completely resist someone else's Imperius, but Aurelia's still very angry with Moody so she's hoping she can, just to prove that she's mentally stronger than the rest of her family. She knows what she wants, she's got her mind set on being a good person and no one, not even an Unforgivable will change her bloody mind.

"But — but you said it's illegal, Professor. You said — to use it against another human was —" Hermione says uncertainly as Moody clears away the desks with a sweep of his wand, leaving a large clear space in the middle of the room.

"Dumbledore wants you taught what it feels like, if you'd rather learn the hard way — when someone's putting it on you so they can control you completely — fine by me. You're excused. Off you go." Moody growls, staring eerily at Hermione.

He points at the door and Hermione turns red with embarrassment.

"No offense but, I don't think she meant it like that! Sure, Dumbledore's got a track record picking horrible teachers — minus Lupin, he was an angel — but we've never actually been told to do anything illegal! So bloody forgive us for questioning any law-breaking taking place in the classroom!" Aurelia snaps, defending Hermione.

Moody surveys her for a moment with an almost smug look on his face "Why don't you go first, Black? I'm sure you've had plenty of experience with the Unforgivable Curses considering your family background."

She grits her teeth. To be fair, she brought that one on herself.

Aurelia thinks she could just tell him to go fuck himself and leave the classroom but she'd much rather see that smug grin wiped off his face when she resists the curse perfectly.

"Fine!" She agree snappily, stepping forward.

 _Okay, brain_! She thinks, _please don't fail me now_.

Moody waves his wand, growling out: "Imperio!"

A sudden wave of calmness and happiness washes over her, all her worries seem to melt away. Before she lets herself get lured into this feeling of security she tells herself she shouldn't be feeling this way. She reminds herself of where she is and how she's with Mad-Eye Moody who's kind of an ass to her. _You shouldn't feel this calm around him_ , Aurelia tells herself.

Seconds later she hears Moody's voice echo in her mind: _tell the truth_.

She thinks of her scars and the secret she's hid from her friends, she should — _no. You don't want to tell the truth, not now. You don't want to_.

 _It must be really difficult hiding who you really are_ , Moody says.

 _They're just scars_ , she tells the voice, _it ain't that deep_.

 _Tell them_! He insists.

 _I think I'll pass_.

Moody lowers his wand, releasing her from the curse.

"Well done, Black, you fought it well." He tells her, giving her a curt nod of approval.

Aurelia glares at him before turning on her heel to head to the back of the class. Out of all the stupid things he could've made her do, he tried to get her to do that.

She dugs her nails into the palms of her hands as she fumed silently. Coming to a stop by Neville's side, he stares at her amazed.

"Wow, Ari! You completely resisted, that's amazing! How did you do it?" He gushes.

"I'll tell you later." She replies quietly, frowning.

He nods and turns his attention to Dean, who under the Imperius Curse, jumps around the room, singing some weird song.

The lesson continues with various students doing weird or embarrassing things that they would never have attempted with control of their actions. Harry, of course, because he's Harry bloody Potter is the only other person who resists the curse, though not as well as she had. Yet, for some reason he's gets more praise than she did. She bitterly scoffs at that, _Saint Potter — Merlin, you sound like Draco_!

Nym had told Moody could be an arse at times but when she said that, Aurelia had never realised she meant that much of an arse.

By the end of the lesson, Aurelia's so enraged it's a surprise that steam isn't coming out of her ears.

"That bastard!" Aurelia hisses heatedly to Neville, who is very confused.

The pair stalk down the corridor, Aurelia in the lead as Neville struggles to keep up with her long strides.

"Is it about the remark he made about your family?" Neville asks.

"No! It's not fair!" Aurelia exclaims, "He makes all the others do embarrassing things but me — ME! He tries to make me —"

"What? What did he try to do?"

Her face twists in anger as she shakes her head "I don't want to talk about it."

Neville looks at her concerned but he doesn't press the subject, he decides to change it instead, asking: "How were you able to resist the curse so well, you said you'd tell me later."

Aurelia bites her lip "Well, my dad . . . To keep me in line at parties, he'd put me under the curse . . . One time he wouldn't let have a cookie and I decided 'fuck that, I want a cookie' and I resisted the curse and got my bloody cookie. I started resisting it more after that but the first time I ever resisted the Imperius Curse was because of a cookie."

Neville stares at her aghast.

"I know it's illegal but could ye maybe not . . . Not, well, tell anyone?"

"I won't tell anyone, I promise . . . But, I think he should be in prison for that."

"I s'pose yer right." Aurelia laughs.

"I always am." The teasing remark slips past his lips before he can really think them through. Neville almost regrets it but then Aurelia's nervous expression turns to an amused one and he knows he's done well.

"I s'pose ye always are, Plant Boy." Aurelia laughs, smiling wide.

* * *

The day before Halloween brings Aurelia a new sort of excited feeling. Today's the day that the other school's will be arriving for the tournament. Aurelia's practically buzzing with excitement as she goes through the day.

 _New people, new friends_!

She also can't help but wonder if Noelle will be attending along with the other Durmstrang students. She had said that's where she went and she did look to be of age. Aurelia really hopes she will be.

She had only shared but a short conversation with the German girl but Aurelia can't seem to forget her. She's on Aurelia's mind as much as Neville is.

Speaking of Neville, he seems to be the only thing dampening her mood but by no fault of his own, Aurelia's just kind of jealous. She's never realised how easily jealous she gets until today, she really shouldn't be jealous considering she fancies to other people besides Neville.

Hannah likes Neville, Aurelia had realised this at breakfast, and Neville likes Hannah.

And so, Aurelia despite being positively delighted about the new arrivals can't stop this wee tidbit of information from dampening her mood.

Aurelia's been all smiles and bouncing around all day except for when that would cross her mind. Then her bright smile would falter and the spring in her step would turn into a trudge; Neville's been noticing this pattern all day.

As they wait for the two schools to arrive, Neville finally asks: "What's wrong?"

"Huh? What? Nothin's wrong!" Aurelia replies quickly as she tears her gaze away from the sky, "What're ye askin' for?"

"You're frowning." He says.

"Oh."

_Well, shit! I ain't about to tell him I've big, huge crush on him! That's totally out of the question — well, fuck!_

"Oh, well . . . Ye see I . . . I met a girl at the Quidditch World Cup and . . ."

 _Are you actually going to come out to him instead of telling him you've got feelings for him?! Ha, you bet I am_!

"I was hoping that she'll be coming along with the Durmstrang students." She says nervously.

"Okay?"

"Well, I — I liker her . . . I like girls like you like girls . . . I find them cute the way you find Hannah cute." Aurelia explains.

Neville frowns. _Great_ , somehow his chances of getting with her got even smaller. _Merlin, why is it always me_?

"You like girls?" He asks meekly

Aurelia nods slowly, asking: "Is there something wrong with that?"

She looks down at him, a panicked expression on her face and he quickly pushes aside his moping thoughts to reassure her that there's nothing wrong with liking girls.

Except for the fact he's not a girl.

"No, nothing at all! There's nothing wrong with loving someone!"

Aurelia sighs relieved, it feels like a weight has been lifted off her shoulders. She never thought that coming out, even to just one person, would make her feel so free.

"So, how long have you known you liked girls?" He wonders, more like how long has he not only been making her uncomfortable but making a fool of himself by trying to show that he like-liked her.

"I was actually really young, it was probably after my disastrous crush on, Roseburke. They were twins, a girl and a boy. I was absolutely smitten with them but my crush lasted much longer on the girl though." Aurelia replies.

"Wait, so you all — also like boys?"

Aurelia nods and Neville grins goofily. Okay, so he does have a very slim chance of being with her one day! "Wait — what about, Hannah?!"

_Merlin, Ari's got a crush on Hannah!_

"You faaannncy her!" Aurelia teases, her hair an odd shade of green.

 _I don't fancy Hannah_! Neville thinks absolutely flabbergasted, he opens his mouth but he's so shocked — _Hannah? Really? Where on Earth did she get that idea_?!

Two Slytherins push past them to get a better view of the sky.

"An excuse me would be nice." Aurelia says sarcastically.

The one Slytherin — Pansy Parkinson, turns around and sneers, jeering: "A 'sorry for betraying my friends and family' would be nice."

Pansy Parkinson's a mean-spirited girl that likes to taunt and bully students including Aurelia, but Neville's come to notice that Pansy's got a different way of bullying Aurelia. It's never too harsh, he's seen Draco treat Aurelia worse, there's an almost edge of playfulness to her taunting when it comes to Aurelia.

Aurelia's told him before that Pansy and her used to be best friends, when no one wanted Pansy around, Aurelia would be there. Aurelia had always treated Pansy nicely and even though Aurelia's now a Hufflepuff and Blood-Traitor, it seems that Pansy still respects Aurelia to a certain degree. And the feeling is mutual as Aurelia seems to hold a certain amount of respect for Pansy — on most days, at least.

The other Slytherin is known to Neville as 'All Knowing Abigale' a fourth-year that has a knack for predicting the future. From what he's heard, it's just little snippets and nothing useful but it's amusing all the same.

Abigale grins brightly at Neville and Aurelia, ignoring the tension between them.

"So, this is Malfoy? The one you told me? She's a lot prettier than you described, Pans." Abigale remarks.

Pansy goes pink, hissing: "Shut up, Abby!"

Neville glances at Aurelia, who's turned a noticeable red colour. He watches as she tries to give Pansy a teasing smile but fails miserably.

"So — uh — uh, how do you think the schools are going to get here?" Aurelia squeaks out.

Abigale grins wider "Mhm, aren't you a cutie-pie."

Neville narrows his eyes, jealous. Pansy's brown eyes flash dangerously as she tugs on Abigale's sleeve.

"To answer, carriage and boat. Not sure which school is which but they should be here any minute now." Abigale replies, smiling knowingly as she allows Pansy to drag her away.

"She's pretty." Aurelia breathes out.

Neville's stomach twists at the thought of Aurelia having a crush on someone else that isn't him. But, he reckons she's right, Abigale's pretty enough with her long, wavy brown hair, and chocolate brown, doe eyes but she's not as pretty as Aurelia — _okay, Neville, you need to tell her now_.

Neville opens his mouth — _just tell her how you feel! What's the worst that can happen? She could hear me? Good Godric just tell her_ —

"Aha, if I'm not mistake the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches." Professor Dumbledore announces.

The crowd comes alive with exclamations and guess on what's heading towards them. Neville looks up at the sky, too dejected by the fact that he hadn't told Aurelia how he felt to be really interested in the approaching school.

It turns out to be a very, very large carriage like Abigale had said. A very large woman steps out of the carriage and greets Professor Dumbledore — she must be the Headmaster, a group of girls and boys in thin-looking, blue uniforms step out after her.

Aurelia turns to Neville, her blue eyes gleaming as she excitedly exclaims: "Friends!"

Neville smiles "If you can speak French that is."

"Oh, I can! Mum taught Draco and I when we were young!"

"Well, then you're going to have lots of friends!"

"Oooh, I hope so!"

"I know so." Neville says, "They'll trample over each other to be friends with someone as lovely as you."

Aurelia blushes, then her nose scrunches up in annoyance as a low rumbling sound invades her ears. The two share cautious looks as the sound grows louder.

"The lake! Look at the lake!" Lee shouts.

They do and sure enough a boat emerges from the waves; Durmstrang has arrived.

Once the massive boat's been anchored in the Headmaster of Durmstrange comes forth to greet Professor Dumbledore. His students follow after him and among them Aurelia spots Noelle.

Aurelia grabs Neville's arm and discreetly points at her "That's the girl I was talkin' about! That's Noelle!"

Neville spots the girl and all he can think is that he's bloody intimidated.

* * *

Aurelia hands back Neville's jumper that he had given to her when they had been standing out in the cold. Now that she's inside eating dinner after Dumbledore had given his welcoming speech, she no longer needs it.

"Thank you." Aurelia says.

"It's no problem." He replies, taking the jumper from her and tying around his waist.

A first-year sighs sadly next to Aurelia, she turns to him and smiles kindly "What's wrong, kid?"

He looks up at her, surprised "Oh, well . . . I like my milk warm and it's alway cold here, I . . . It reminds me of home, y'know."

Aurelia smiles softly "I gotta spell for heating things up."

He looks even more surprised.

Aurelia pulls out her spell book from her cardigan pocket. Real magic is that it fits in there without any spell.

"It's a very temperamental spell — full pun intended — so it might make your milk too hot. It's not the best spell I've made —"

You can make spells already?" He asks in awe

"Somewhat. But, I've been doing this since before Hogwarts." Aurelia says, pointing her wand at the boy's goblet of milk and casting the spell.

"Wow! Thanks! I'm Dennis — Dennis Creevy, by the way!"

"I'm —"

"Aurelia Black." A familiar German accent cuts in, "Ve meet again."

Aurelia looks up and smiles "Noelle!"

"Hello, Aurelia. I spotted you across the hall and zought I should come say 'hi' — are you doing school vork at the dinner taple?" Noelle asks, peering at the black book in Aurelia's hand with her signed name on it.

"Oh, n — no! I was just hel — helping Dennis with his milk . . . Uh, how are you? I — I'm so hap — happy to see you!" Aurelia stammers, flustered.

Neville scowls and busies himself with his dinner.

"How nice of you. I'm happy to zee you as vell, Aurelia. I vas quite exided ven ze announced zat our school vould be uniding for zis tournament because that meant I could zee you."

Aurelia blushes.

"Vell, I must get back before Karkaroff notices I've vandered off. I'll zee you around, pretty girl." Noelle says, sauntering back to the Slytherin table where the rest of the Durmstrang students sit.

Moments later the feast comes to an end and Professor Dumbledore gets to his feet, announcing: "The moment has come at last, the Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to give some words of explanation before we bring in the casket."

Well, that doesn't sound morbid at all." Aurelia mutters sarcastically, Dennis hears her and giggles.

Aurelia pays little attention to his speech, she's got no reason to as she can't enter the tournament. Not that she would want to if she could.

Professor Dumbeldore asks Mr. Filch to bring in the casket which he does and then he continues on explaining. Aurelia leans her head on Neville's shoulder, only half-listening to what's being said. The only thing that catches her attention is the actual Goblet of Fire and that's because it's blue and looked cool.

"Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet. Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night the goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete. To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation, I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line." Professor Dumbledore explains.

"Or you could just cancel the tournament all together." Aurelia mutters.

"Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract."

 _That doesn't sound good at all_ , Aurelia thinks as she shudders.

"Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all." He finishes his speech with a light tone.

With that students start clambering out of the Great Hall. As Aurelia walks beside Neville, she can hear Fred and George complaining about the age line and Hermione scolding them for it.

Fred pushes his way between Aurelia and Neville, slinging his arm around her shoulder as he asks: "What about you, Blue? Are you going to try and enter?"

"Ugh, as if!" She groans, "I'd fuckin' die if I got in. I don't want anythin' to do with that bloody tournament. It's too dangerous for me!"

Suit yourself." Fred says, retracting his arm from around her shoulder and turning back to his brother.

"Besides, I'm not worthy enough, the Goblet'd never pick me. Aurelia sighs.

Neville shakes his head "That's not true, you're very worthy."

The comment and the sweet smile on his face leaves Aurelia positively giddy for the rest of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dennis is so SMOL and PURE I love him so much! I Am So Excited For The Next Chapter because 1.) Viktor Krum is soft and I love him and 2.) the next chapter is where it all went wrong in the original version, because I didn't do that thing I wanted to do and I was never satisfied with the Goblet of Fire portion of Aurelia's story because of it but this time around I Am Going to Fix That! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I would really appreciate it if you could let me know what you thought of it, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated!


	15. | XIII: ❝Two Too Many❞

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! Soo,,, uhhhh, the subplot finally thickens in the chapter and ya girl's so excited for it! I hope you enjoy the chapter, please leave a review letting me know what you thought of it, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated!

****

**CHAPTER xiii** ** _!_**  
Two Too Many

* * *

 **SHE WAKES UP** , **SWEATING PROFUSELY AS SCREAM TEARS** from her lips.

 _Gwen's going to kill me! Gwen's going to kill me — I'm going to die! I'm_ —

Her whole body feels like it's on fire but not in a painful way, her muscles are tensed up — _I'm in danger_ — _I'm in_ —

A pillow hits her square in the face, startling her but dragging her out of her panicked stupor because there had been no pillows before.

 _It's just a nightmare_ , she realises, her body cools down significantly as she lets out a sigh of relief. Gwendoline Goyle's not here and she can't hurt her.

"Why are you bloody screaming?" Hannah asks annoyed.

Aurelia glances at her "Sorry, bad dream."

Hannah raises her eyebrows, huffing.

"I'm fine, go back to sleep."

Without hesitation, Hannah buries her head under her covers once more.

Aurelia glances around the dorm, unsurprisingly Olivia had slept through her scream; Olivia can sleep through anything, she swears on it. Aurelia's surprised to see that Susan hadn't woken up; Susan Bones never sleeps. That statement is only slightly exaggerated, Susan sleeps very little, she's the last to go to sleep and the first to wake up, when she does sleep, Susan's a very, very light sleeper.

She crawls out of bed and heads for the bathrooms, as she passes by Susan's bed, she hears a mumble of: "You alright, Blue?"

Aurelia lets out a startled gasp, though she shouldn't have been surprised that Susan's awake, she's still on edge because of that bloody nightmare.

Unsure if her screaming woke Susan up or not, Aurelia says: "Oh, sorry, Suse! I —"

"I've been up since four. No worries, Blue." Susan waves her off, tucking her blankets under her chin as she stares up at Aurelia, "I just got up to use the loo a few minutes ago, I saw you tossin' and turnin' but you do that a lot so I didn't say nothin'. I saw Diggory sittin' by the fire when I passed."

"Oh, okay." Aurelia says, nodding as she slips out of the dorm and down the hallway to the bathrooms.

She's in definite need of a shower after that nightmare. Her pale, freckled skin is glistening with sweat and it kinda makes her looks like she's dying. She fees like she's dying, not psychically but mentally.

The cool water against her heated skin feels good, she rubs the scrub brush up her left arm and to her shoulder the one where her sun-shaped birthmark resides, as it brushes the mark, burning jolt rubs up and down her arm, her entire body feels like it's been engulfed in flames — _DANGER_! Her brain screams — _DANGER_!

Aurelia blinks, she's not in danger. Why does she think she's in peril danger when she's in the bloody shower? There's no danger here. The burning sensation dissipates immediately and Aurelia continues showering without another thought.

* * *

Like Susan had said, Cedric had been sitting in an armchair by the fire. When Aurelia had come down and greeted him, he had just stared at the fire like it had murdered his entire family, she knew that look all too well.

There had been a piece of parchment in his hand, which he had been debating whether or not he wanted to put it in the Goblet of Fire. And Aurelia had managed to convince him to do it with opposite intentions.

So now, Aurelia's scrambling after Cedric who's practically strutting his way to the Great Hall, oozing more confidence than usual, an excited smirk plastered on his handsome features.

Just because she wholeheartedly believed he would win the tournament if he was chosen does not mean she wants him to enter. Does he not comprehend how damn dangerous the Triwizard Tournament is?

Entering the Great Hall, Aurelia's greeted by the sight of Noelle about to put her name in the goblet.

"Hey, Noelle!" Aurelia calls out, growing flustered.

Noelle almost drops the parchment in her hands but she quickly recovers. She glances over her shoulder, an almost malicious smirk takes over her intimidating but pretty features "Hello, Aurelia."

"Good morning, Noelle!" Aurelia says as she blushes furiously, "Entering are you?"

Noelle's shark-like grin widens "Oh, yes. I am."

"Well, er, good luck."

"Oh, I won't need it." Noelle says, bringing a new air of confidence to the already confident girl.

Aurelia giggles.

Noelle stares intensely into Aurelia's eyes as she drops the parchment into the goblet.

"Well, zee you later, pretty girl." Noelle says, winking as she departs from the Great Hall.

"Wow." Aurelia says breathlessly, not even noticing Cedric stepping up and placing his name in the Goblet of Fire.

 _Noelle's so pretty_.

"Hmm, Neville's better." Cedric remarks, ruffling her hair.

"Well, Neville doesn't like me like that. Noelle, I'm pretty sure, does."

"Since when have you been fancying girls? Isn't that Liv's thing?"

Aurelia's eyes widen in alarm, she may have told Neville but she's not quite ready to tell more people, she looks around the Great Hall for a distraction.

"Since when have you — uh — oh, shit — since when have you liked — NEVILLE!"

Neville's tired, round face enters the Great Hall and Aurelia runs for him leaving behind a very confused Cedric who had only asked a simple question.

"PLANT BOY!"

Neville's engulfed in a hug before he even knows that Aurelia had been charging towards him.

"Good morning, sunshine!" Aurelia says cheerily.

Neville wishes that the 'sunshine' nickname doesn't make his heart flutter as much as it does.

Cedric watches the two of them fondly before rolling his eyes "'Neville doesn't like me!' she says." he mutters, the look on Neville's face says otherwise.

* * *

"That's the seventh Durmstrang kid." Aurelia says to Neville, "They're a bunch of daring bastards, ain't they?"

The pair had been sitting in the Great Hall for hours, chatting and watching the students placing their names in the Goblet of Fire.

"Would you put your name in there?" Neville asks, peeling an orange.

"No." Aurelia replies, popping a raspberry into her mouth, "I've read so many horror stories about this tournament, the reward isn't worth it."

Neville nods, biting into an orange slice.

"What about you, Plant Boy? Would you enter?"

He snorts quietly then shakes his head.

"Noelle entered, so did Cedric. And, I'm bloody certain Elliot's going to enter whenever the hell he wakes up." Aurelia says, shuddering.

Neville rolls his eyes at the mention of Noelle, chewing an orange slice aggressively.

"I hate this tournament." Aurelia says bitterly.

"It hasn't even started yet but I'm sure it'll be over before we know it." Neville reassures.

"Anyone entered yet?" Ron questions as he, Harry, and Hermione take a seat at the table.

"Good morning to you too." Aurelia says as she rolls her eyes, "Pretty sure all the Durmstrang lot has. As for Hogwarts, I've only seen Cedric enter."

"Bet some of them put it in last night after we'd all gone to bed, I would've if it had been me . . . Wouldn't have wanted everyone watching. What if the goblet just gobbed you right back out again?" Harry comments.

"That's not how it works. The goblet takes all the names put into it and when the time comes it chooses the names it deems most worthy." Aurelia explains.

Harry and Ron stare at her bewildered as it's usually Hermione who spits out information like that.

"What? I read all about the tournament last year because Professor Binns recommended it to me since I was so far ahead in the class." Aurelia says, shamelessly bragging that she's top of the History of Magic class.

Hermione and Draco are usually the top students in classes but when it comes to History of Magic, it's Aurelia's time to shine, and Aurelia doesn't let anyone forget that. It's nice to finally be better than her brother for once.

Laughter echoes around the Great Hall as Fred, George, Lee, and Elliot come running in. She rolls her eyes, immediately knowing that they've found a way to enter. Whatever they've got planned, Elliot doesn't need it as he had just turned seventeen five days prior to this.

Elliot brushes his shaggy hair out of his face, he grins smugly as he steps up to the goblet and drops his name in it.

"Done it." Fred tells them as he grins triumphantly, "Just taken it!"

"What?" Ron asks.

"Aging Potion, dung brain." Fred replies.

"One drop each. We only need to be a few months older." George adds, rubbing his hands together with glee.

"We're going to split the thousand Galleons between the three of us if one of us wins." Lee says, grinning broadly.

"I'm not sure this is going to work, you know, I'm sure Dumbledore will have thought of this." Hermione warns them.

The three boys ignore her.

"Ready?" Fred asks George and Lee, quivering with excitement as he pulls out a piece of parchment out of his pocket.

He steps over the line an nothing happens, so George lets out a victorious cry as he jumps over the line as well.

Then a sizzling sound can be heard and both of them are thrown back over the line with brutal force. They land on the stone cold floor ten feet away, both sporting long white beards.

"Oooh, damn!" Aurelia wheezes, laughing. She wishes she hadn't forgotten her camera in her dorm.

Professor Dumbledore enters the Great Hall, surveying the twins with an amused expression as he tells them to go see Madam Pomfrey.

Aurelia turns back to Neville and tells him: "I'm gonna go down to the Quidditch pitch, get some practice for next year. Y'know for when the game's not cancelled for a stupid reason such as the Diewizard Tournament."

"Can I come with you?" He asks.

Her eyebrows furrow together in confusion "Why? I'm sure you have more important, entertaining things to do."

He shakes his head quickly — he's got a Potion's essay that's due Monday — "No, I've got nothing."

"You'll be bored."

He shakes his head again "Not at all!"

She raises an eyebrow "Ye really wanna sit an' watch me fly 'round an empty Quidditch pitch?"

"Sure!"

"But, why?"

"Because it's fun. I like watching you fly and I like spending time with you."

"O — oh. Okay." Aurelia stutters, blushing.

Neville grabs Aurelia's hand and they head for the Quidditch pitch.

* * *

The Quidditch pitch isn't as empty as Aurelia had expected it to be. It's not full by any means but there's two more people here than she had been counting on.

It's Viktor Krum and the Headmaster of Durmstrang; Viktor's practicing as well.

Aurelia internally screams.

She's not his biggest fan by any means but he's still famous. Not to mention, he's an amazing Seeker. She can't practice now, there's no way she's going to fly in front of Viktor bloody Krum and make a fool of herself as she's nowhere near as good as he is.

Aurelia's eyes are wide as he glances between Aurelia and Krum "Is that . . .?"

She nods quickly "May — maybe we should —"

"What are you two doing here?!" The Headmaster demands harshly, pointing at the two of them.

Neville gulps loudly and Aurelia clutches the broom she had grabbed from the locker room to her chest.

"This is our school?" Aurelia says meekly and when the Headmaster's glare hardens, she regrets letting her snarky-ish comment be said aloud.

"Uh — well, you see — well, we were just co — coming down here t — to pratice." Aurelia stammers.

The Headmaster sneers at them "Viktor does not have time for fans."

Viktor Krum lands on the ground gracefully and Aurelia almost swoons. Not because she finds Krum attractive or anything but because his landing had been so smooth, she wishes her landings could be that smooth.

"Vot is going on, Karkaroff? Are these fans?"

You have no time for fans, Viktor. You must practice." Karkaroff says.

"There are only two, it von't take long." Krum says.

"We — we're not here for a — a — autographs, hon — honest. I was just comin' down here to practice flying and he was comin' along to watch. We didn't know that anyone w — would be here." Aurelia stammers nervously, Karkaroff's an intimidating bloke and Viktor bloody Krum's standing right in front of her.

"You play Quidditch?" Krum questions, looking her over.

Aurelia nods, picking at her Quidditch sweater nervously.

"Vot position do you play?"

"S — Seeker."

"Vould you like to practice vith me?"

Aurelia blinks "You want me to practice with you?"

Krum nods.

 _Uh, holy shit_!

"O — okay." Aurelia agrees.

"How long haff you been a Seeker?"

"A year now. I was a Keeper before that but, Ced — my cap — captain said I made a better Seeker. I had a habit of screamin' when I saw the Snitch before he did, I think he mostly made me Seeker just so he wouldn't have to hear me scream no more." Aurelia rambles.

"You haff the perfect build for a Seeker. So you haff only been flying for a year now?"

"Oh, no! I've been flyin' since I was a wee thin'. About three, my brother and I had little broom we used to play on. I got my first real broom when I was seven."

"So you haff had lots of practice?"

"I guess." Aurelia replies, shrugging her shoulders.

Krum grins lightly, turning to Karkaroff "I vill practice vith her. It vill be more of a challenge than vith only myself."

Karkaroff gives Aurelia a look that can only be read as ' _Her? A Challenge? Ha_!' but he nods his head, saying: "If that is what you want, Viktor."

Krum nods.

Aurelia glances at Neville, grinning widely; Viktor fucking Krum wants to practice with her. Wow.

The two mount their brooms and Karkaroff releases the Snitch into the pitch and they take off.

Both her and Viktor seems to have their eyes on the Snitch as they race across the field.

They stretch their hands out for the Snitch, Aurelia's graze the golden surface of the ball but she's not close enough to catch it.

The Snitch suddenly shoots upwards, the action happens so suddenly Aurelia almost misses it and Krum misses it completely.

Aurelia shoots upwards after the Snitch, it takes Krum a few seconds to realise the Snitch was no longer in front of him and then he's shooting after her.

She reaches out her hand — _almost, almost, almost_ — her slender fingers latch around the golden ball — _got it_!

Her eyes widen in realisation, she beat Viktor bloody Krum!

 _Holy shit_!

"I — I got it?" Aurelia announces.

She actually caught the Snitch before the professional, famous Quidditch player! Wow, so maybe she's better at this than she thought?

She lands on the ground, the Snitch clutched tightly in her hand as she internally screams.

Aurelia waves the golden ball in the air to show Neville, who grins brightly at her and lets out a little cheer of: "Whoo! That's my Sunflower Girl!"

Krum lands beside her, he holds out his hand to shake "Vell done . . . I never caught your name?"

"I'm Aurelia Black, what's yours?" She says — _you dumb bitch_!

"Oh — I — sorry, force o' habit!" Aurelia stammers, cheeks going red with embarrassment.

However, Krum grins brightly "I am Viktor Krum. It is nice to meet you."

It's probably not often, he's asked his name, he must like the normalcy of the gesture, she thinks. Either that or he's just going along with it to save her the embarrassment.

"So, O-rah-lee-yah —"

Aurelia snickers loudly but then her eyes widen "Oh, I'm so sorry! It's just that — well, that's not how you pronounce my name."

"It is not?" Viktor questions, thick eyebrows furrowing together in confusion.

She shakes her head "No. That's okay though, my name's real hard to pronounce. Even my parents pronounced it wrong at times and they were the ones that picked it! It's like 'Ah-rail-yah' or it can be also be pronounced like 'Ah-rail-lee-yah'. That's how Nev pronounces it but — uh, most o' my friends call me, Blue."

Aurelia prefers the way Neville says her name; it sounds nicer.

"So I can call you, Blue, like the colour?"

Aurelia nods turning her brunette curls, blue.

"Yep, exactly like the colour! Sorry for laughin' at ye like that. 'Nother force o' habit of mine, I find it real funny when people pronounce my name wrong, I laugh at everyone, if it helps."

 _It does_!

Viktor sounds incredibly giddy as he says this but then Aurelia realises he hadn't opened his mouth to speak, he had only thought it. She blinks, clearing her mind to the best of the ability, she really needs to stop doing that. She really needs to find a way to control it but the only person she can think to ask is Snape, and, well . . . She's not really sure if she's that _desperate_ yet.

She can learn this on her own . . . She hopes.

"Vell, Blue, care for another round?" Viktor questions.

Aurelia looks to Neville, who nods as he lifts up a Herbology book. She turns back to Viktor, nodding "Sure thing!"

* * *

"YOU ASKED VIKTOR KRUM WHAT HIS BLOODY NAME WAS!" Ron exclaims flabbergasted.

Aurelia blushes "Leave me alone, Ronald!"

"Did you at least get his autograph?!" Ron demands to which Aurelia shakes her head, earning an exasperated groan from him.

"I didn't have anything for him to sign! Plus I was way too busy gettin' my ass kicked by Viktor!"

"You won twice!" Neville cuts in.

"Yeah, but, Viktor won the other seven times!"

"You still did amazing! Viktor Krum says so himself." Neville reminds, grinning at her with pride.

Aurelia blushes "I could've done better."

"Wait, so does this mean you're friends with Viktor Krum?!" Ron questions.

"Yeah, I guess it does." Aurelia replies with a grin, "Viktor, Nev, and I are goin' to get Butterbeer when the first trip to Hogsmeade comes around. Viktor's never had Butterbeer before, can ye believe it?!"

Ron who had been about to sit down at the Gryffindor table misses the bench by an inch and falls right on his arse.

"What?!" Ron splutters.

"I know! I was so surprised that he's never had —"

"No!" Ron croaks out, "I — you're going to Hogsmeade with Viktor Krum?!"

"It's not a big deal — okay, it is! I'm friends with Viktor fuckin' Krum!"

Hermione rolls her eyes at the two of them, Fred and George plop down across from the lot of them, instantly changing the subject as Fred says: "I hope it's Angelina!"

"So do I! We'll know soon!" Hermione says.

Aurelia glares at the Goblet of Fire, she doesn't want anyone to be chosen, she wants the bloody tournament to be cancelled.

She piles some mashed potatoes, smoked ham, and peas onto her plate and digs in.

The feast seems to pass by quicker than the last, much to Aurelia's dismay, and soon enough the plates are cleared and Professor Dumbledore's gotten to his feet.

"Well, I do believe the goblet is almost ready to make its decision, I estimate it requires another moment or too."

Aurelia groans, burying her face in her hands. Please just cancel it before it begins, that's the smartest decision you can make when it comes to this tournament.

"Now, when a champion's name is chosen, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber where they will be receiving their first instructions." Professor Dumbledore explains.

Using his wand, he extinguishes the candles in the Great Hall save for the ones in the carved pumpkins and the flames of the Goblet of Fire.

"Any second now." Lee whispers from the seat across of Aurelia.

She glances at the goblet which suddenly turns red as the flames spit up a charred piece of parchment.

Professor Dumbledore grabs it and announces: "The champion of Durmstrang will be Viktor Krum!"

The Great Hall bursts into applause.

"No surprise there!" Ron cries out.

Viktor walks up to the staff table and follows it along until he reaches the side chamber and disappears through the door.

The applause dies down soon afterward and then seconds later the goblet turns red again, shooting out the second champion's name.

"The champion for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour!"

The Great Hall bursts into applause yet again.

 _The Hogwarts champion is next_ , Aurelia thinks, _oh, shit, please don't be Cedric! Please don't be Cedric_.

She knows it's rude of her to wish for this as Cedric's so excited for this tournament but Aurelia really can't help it.

The Goblet of Fire turns red for the third and last time.

 _Please, please, please_.

"The Hogwarts champion is Cedric Diggory!"

"Oh, no!" Aurelia mutters worriedly.

She frowns, she wants to cheer for Cedric because he deserves support but she's so bloody worried about him.

Everyone at the Hufflepuff table jumps to their feet, screaming and stamping, as Cedric makes his way past them, grinning broadly, as he heads toward the chamber behind the staff table.

The cheering of the Hufflepuffs lasts longer than the cheering for the other schools but finally it dies down and Professor Dumbledore begins to speak: "Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real —"

He stops speaking, distracted by the Goblet of Fire which had turned red again.

"Oh, no!" Aurelia gasps, this _can't_ be happening! There's only supposed to be three champions!

Aurelia's filled with dread as a fourth name is spit up from the goblet.

 _No. No. No_.

Professor Dumbledore reaches out and grabs it, there's a long pause as he stares at it.

It's Harry. Somehow it's got to be Harry. It's _always_ Harry.

Aurelia bites her nails nervously, waiting for the Headmaster to read the name but before he can the goblet turns red and spits up a fifth name. Professor Dumbledore reaches out and grabs that, without tearing his gaze from the other piece of parchment.

 _Whose names are those? One of them's got to be Harry's_! Aurelia's mind is racing and her heart is hammering, this isn't supposed to be happening. There's never, ever been more than three champions picked before.

There's a long, terrible pause before Professor Dumbledore clears his throat, announcing: "Harry Potter and . . . Aurelia Black!"

It feels like someone had stomped hard on her chest, knocking all the air from her lungs "Oh, fuck!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all probably saw that coming and y'all probably sighed SO loud but I wanted to do this SO bad in the Original Version but I didn't because I thought no one would read it and I regretted not doing it because I was never satisfied with the Goblet of Fire portion of Make Them Gold after I decided NOT to put Aurelia in the Triwizard Tournament. So now that I'm rewriting it, I've decided to go back and fix that mistake. And trust me, it'll make sense as to why she was put in it in the first place by the end of the tournament, it's a wonder I didn't go through with this idea in the original version because it kinda makes NO sense that she wasn't put in it in the Original Version. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated! I would also really, really appreciate it if you could let me know what you thought of it!


	16. | XIV: ❝More Than Survive❞

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there! This chapter is kinda angsty but there's a really cute Nevari moment at the end that makes up for it! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the chapter, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated! I would also really, really appreciate it if you could let me know what you thought of it!

****

**CHAPTER xiv** ** _!_**  
More Than Survive

* * *

 **HER HEART SEEMS TO HAVE DROPPED INTO** her stomach. _No_ , the world is spinning around her, _no_! This kind of thing doesn't happen to her, _no_ , this is something that happens to Harry bloody Potter.

 _No_ , she must be hallucinating, he can't have called her name.

Aurelia opens her mouth to deny it but all that comes out is a strangled wheeze.

 _No_ , she can't be a Triwizard champion, no, she'll die in this thing, she's not cut out for this. She doesn't want this.

Tears burn her eyes.

Both Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout leap to their feet to whisper something in Professor Dumbledore's ear.

This is actually happening, it shouldn't but it is. Fuck, her worst nightmare is happening, _no_ , _Merlin_ , _why me_?

"N — n — no." Aurelia whimpers hoarsely, covering her mouth with a trembling hand.

"Ari?" Neville whispers fearfully as he stares at her with wide eyes.

She shakes her head quickly, hot tears rolling down her cheeks.

She's not meant for this, she's not — _oh, Merlin_! She's going to die, she doesn't want to die!

A horrible, panicky feeling builds in the pit of her stomach and a fiery hot feeling ignites in every fibre of her being.

She doesn't want this, it's too dangerous, she's not cut out for this!

Aurelia inhales a shuddering breath, the room seems to be spinning more violently now.

Why is this happening to her?!

"Harry Potter! Aurelia Black!" Dumbledore calls out again, "Harry, Aurelia! Up here if you please!"

Aurelia shakes her head so violently she makes herself even dizzier "No, I — I don't please, I — I d — don't wanna go — go up there! I did — didn't put my name in that da — damn gob — g — goblet!"

She can hardly breathe, she keeps shaking her head even as Harry gets to his feet and slowly heads to the top of the hall, looking way too calm for what just happened.

"Aurelia Black." Dumbledore calls again.

Aurelia refuses "I did — I didn't put my name in th — that thing!" she says shrilly through gasps for breath.

Now, most of the students had taken their eyes off Harry and placed them on her. Aurelia feels like she's going to be sick, her head is throbbing and her body is tensed up and it feels like her body is on fire — _I can't be in this tournament, I'll die a painful, horrible death! I'm not strong enough for this!_

Neville places his hands on her shoulders, softly saying: "Ari, you've got to go up there, how else are they going to get you and Harry out of this mess?"

That's the problem, her and Harry won't be able to get out of this mess, once a name's been spit out by the goblet they're stuck in the tournament to the end. In other words, Aurelia's totally fucked.

She's still struggling to breathe as Professor Dumbledore calls her name for a third time.

"I — I — I didn't put m — m — my name in — in that gob — goblet."

"I know, I know." Neville soothes, "But, you've got to go with the other champions. We — we can wa — walk up there together if that'll make you feel better?"

Aurelia knows that at this point, nothing'll make her feel better. She's just been entered into the Triwizard Tournament not only against the rules but against her will, she's doomed!

She nods her head and Neville grabs her hand as he helps her stand up.

Aurelia's terrified; she can't do this!

By the time they reach the side chamber's door, Harry had just disappeared through it.

Professor Sprout stops Neville from going down, saying only champions can go down there.

Aurelia's stomach lurches, she can't do this without Neville. She doesn't want to go down there alone.

"I'll wait for you." Neville promises.

This doesn't settle her nerves even though she knows he will.

Descending the stairs, Aurelia can no longer hold back her tears.

Surely, this can't be happening to me? How on Earth did Harry look so calm about this whole thing? Is he just internally panicking or is she just weak?

As she comes to the stop at the bottom of the stairs, Aurelia hears Fleur Delacour asking Harry: "Do zey want us back in ze hall?"

Aurelia truly wishes that's the real reason why her and Harry had to come down here, to go and fetch the champions but it's not; they're the bloody champions — _well, fuck me gently with a chainsaw_!

She sniffles and Cedric's gaze lands on her "Blue, what's going on? What's happened?"

"Something that's not supposed to happen!" Aurelia sobs as her hair turns white, "We were — weren't supposed to be chosen! This is — is supposed to be the TRIwizard Tournament not the FIVEwizard Tournament!"

Before Cedric can question exactly what Aurelia means, there's the sound of scurrying feet and Ludo Bagman exclaiming: " Extraordinary!"

Bagman grabs Harry and Aurelia's arm but she rips herself from his grasp, he doesn't seem to mind as he squeezes Harry's arm "Absolutely extraordinary! Gentlemen . . . Lady, may I introduce — incredible though it may seem — the fourth tri — and fifth Triwizard champion?"

Viktor Krum straightens up, his surly face darkened as he surveys Harry and Aurelia. Cedric looks positively nonplussed, he looks from Bagman to Harry and Aurelia then back again as though he must've misheard what Bagman had said.

Fleur Delacour, however, tosses her hair, smiling as she says: "Oh, vairy funny joke, Meester Bagman."

"Joke? No, no, not at all! Harry's n — and Black's name just came out of the Goblet of Fire!" Bagman says, bewildered.

"It's Aurelia, asshole." She mutters under her breath, "And technically it is a joke because neither of us put our damned names in that goblet! Someone else did, we're far too young!"

Viktor's thick eyebrows contracted slightly, Cedric's still looking positively surprised, and Fleur frowns — the _only_ one who obviously sees the problem here!

"But evidently zair 'as been a mistake," Fleur says contemptuously, " Zey cannot compete. Zey are too young."

"Ex — exactly! There's been a mistake, she's right! You can't let — let us compete, we're too young! We're children!" Aurelia exclaims, face turning red as she grows increasingly frustrated.

Why does _no one_ understand that she _doesn't_ want this?!

"Well . . . It is amazing," Bagman says, as he rubs his smooth chin and smiles down at Harry, "But, as you know, the age restriction was only imposed this year as an extra safety measure. And as his — their names did come out of the goblet . . . I mean, I don't think there can be any ducking out at this stage. . . . It's down in the rules, they're obliged . . . Harry will just have to do the best he —"

"I DON'T FUCKING WANT THIS!" Aurelia screams, drawing the attention of everyone in the room and those entering it, "I DIDN'T PUT MY NAME IN THE GOBLET!"

Her hair turns red in anger "I'm just a child! I can't — I can't do this! I'm not prepared for this, I didn't choose this, someone put my name in that goblet without my permission and I sh — shouldn't have to pay for that! I'm sure Harry feels the way. I mean come the fuck on, he's Harry fuckin' Potter, he definitely didn't put his name in that goblet! He's a fuckin' trouble magnet, Voldemort probably put his name in that goblet somehow, it wouldn't be the first time he got into Hogwarts undetected. Neither of us put our fuckin' names in the goblet!"

Professor Dumbledore comes down the stairs, followed closely by Mr. Crouch, Professor Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, Professor McGonagall, Professor Sprout, Professor Snape and Lyra.

"Madame Maxime!" Fleur says at once, striding over to her headmistress, "Zey are saying zat zee little children are to compete also!"

"I'm almost taller than ye?" Aurelia mutters under breath, "We don't want to compete, is anyone fuckin' listenin' to me?! Merlin's beard! I don't fuckin' want this!"

"What is ze meaning of zis, Dumbly-dorr?" Madam Maxime says imperiously.

"I'd rather like to know that myself, Dumbledore. _Three_ Hogwarts champions? I don't remember anyone telling me the host school is allowed _three_ champions — or have I not read the rules carefully enough?" Professor Karkaroff says, letting out a short and nasty laugh.

"There isn't!" Aurelia cries shrilly, "There's only supposed to be one champion each, my name — our names shouldn't've come out of it! There's been a ter — terrible mistake!"

She rushes over to Professor Sprout, tearfully crying: "You — you can't let us com — compete! We didn't p — put our names in! We — we're just children, we — we can't do this."

"C'est impossible, 'Ogwarts cannot 'ave two champions. It is most injust." Madam Maxime says.

"We were under the impression that your Age Line would keep out younger contestants, Dumbledore." Professor Karkaroff says, his steely gaze colder than ever, "Otherwise, we would, of course, have brought along a wider selection of candidates from our own schools."

"It's no one's fault but Potter's, Karkaroff!" Professor Snape says softly, his black eyes were alight with malice, "Don't go blaming Dumbledore for Potter's determination to break rules. He has been crossing lines ever since he arrived here —"

"Please Snape! Potter's not smart enough to get across the age line on his own — no offense, Potter, the real culprit is Aurelia. Her entire family is full of Death-Eaters, she found away across the line, somehow, to get Potter's name in there to get him killed, of course, then threw in her name for good measure. To make sure she's not a suspect. You can drop the act now, Aurelia —" Lyra hisses, glaring daggers at Aurelia.

Aurelia cowers under her aunt's lethal gaze.

"Thank you, Severus, Lyra." Dumbledore says firmly effectively shutting them up.

He looks down at Aurelia and Harry, asking: "Did either of you put your name in the Goblet of Fire?"

They both shake their heads.

"No." Harry says earning a snort of impatient disbelief from Professor Snape.

"No, sir." Aurelia says, from the corner of her eye she sees Lyra roll her eyes.

"Did you ask an older student to put it into the Goblet of Fire for you?" Dumbledore asks.

"No!" Harry insists.

"Wait — wait, you mean you made an age restriction but you didn't think to do something from stopping older students putting in names for younger students?" Aurelia asks in complete disbelief, "Do you know how fucked that is! Do you know how many older students hate me — Roseburke! Warrington! Aldridge! — and do you know how many older students hate Harry! Most of these students come from Death-Eater families and they didn't have an age restriction to worry about!: Warrington! Wilkes! Wiltmire! I didn't ask an older student to put my name in but for all we fuckin' know, they could've done it without my permission! Same goes with Harry!" Aurelia exclaims, her chest heaving up and down quickly with every breath she takes.

"Ah! Of course zey are lying!" Madam Maxime cries angrily.

"Listen, lady —" Aurelia begins to snap but she's cut off my Professor McGonagall.

"They could not have crossed the Age Line!" Professor McGonagall says sharply. "I am sure we are all agreed on that —"

"Dumbly-dorr must 'ave made a mistake wiz ze line," Madame Maxime counters, shrugging.

"It is possible, of course." Dumbledore says politely.

"Dumbledore, you know perfectly well you did not make a mistake!" Professor Sprout exclaims, patting Aurelia's back as she lets out little shaky sobs here and there.

"Really, what nonsense! Harry nor Aurelia could not have crossed the line themselves, and as Professor Dumbledore believes that they did not persuade an older student to do it for them, I'm sure that should be good enough for everybody else!" McGonagall says angrily, shooting Lyra and Snape dirty looks.

"Mr. Crouch . . . Mr. Bagman, you are our — er — objective judges. Surely you will agree that this is most irregular?" Karkaroff questions, uncertainly.

"We must follow the rules, and the rules state clearly that those people whose names come out of the Goblet of Fire are bound to compete in the tournament." Mr. Crouch says curtly.

Aurelia dissolves into tears — _I'm going to fucking die_!

Professor Sprout pats her shoulder "There, there. Dear, don't cry."

She only cries harder.

The room bursts into an argument, complete and utter chaos. It only gets worse when Moody steps in.

The newest professor accuses Karkaroff of putting Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire, the second person to completely disregard the fact that Aurelia's name had been entered too, the first being Bagman.

Karkaroff, to Aurelia's knowledge, could've been a Death-Eater, she remembers her dad mentioning that name once or twice to Mr. and Mrs. Parkinson. But, he had been one of the few to escape an Azkaban sentence, so Aurelia really can't see Karkaroff risking his freedom to have a go at Harry, fourteen years after his 'master' had died.

"You could've put Harry's name in the goblet." Aurelia speaks up, "How do we know you're even Moody?"

Everyone, including Aurelia misses Moody's eyes flashing dangerously at this remark, Aurelia continues her angry rant through tears: "It wouldn't be the first time we've had Voldemort disguised as a professor. Hell, you could've put my name in the goblet, you seem to really hate me and my family!"

Moody glances at Harry with his glass eyes, ignoring as Aurelia as he says: "I don't see Potter complaining."

Aurelia narrows her red eyes, _this bitch definitely put my name in the goblet_. He's got a good motive, that being to stop her from turning out to be as crazy and evil as the rest of her family, there's an eighty percent chance that she'll die in this tournament. _But, who put Harry's name in it_? Moody, if he really is Moody — there hasn't really been any proof that he's not Moody so she can't really say he's not — wouldn't want Harry Potter of all people in this tournament.

"Why should 'e complain?" Fleur Delacour cries out, stamping her foot. "'E 'as ze chance to compete, 'asn't 'e? We 'ave all been 'oping to be chosen for weeks and weeks! Ze honor for our schools! A thousand Galleons in prize money — zis is a chance many would die for!"

"Mhm, sweetie, not to sound snobby or anythin' but next to Viktor, I'm probably the richest bitch in this entire room. I've got three of the biggest vaults in Gringotts at my disposal." Aurelia says, if she hadn't been crying when she had say that, she would've praised herself for being a sassy little shit but, _no_ , instead she sounds like a sensitive little shit.

"Maybe someone's hoping Potter is going to die for it." Moody says.

"Did or did my name not get spit up by that goblet? As much as I hate the fact I have to participate in this tournament, I am part of it. And someone could be hopin' that I end up dead too!" Aurelia exclaims, wiping tears from her eyes.

The room falls silent for a moment, Aurelia sniffles as she hugs her lanky arms around her waist. Fuck, all she wanted is one — _one_ damn peaceful year at Hogwarts! If she survives this damned tournament, _if_ , she's made up her mind, she's dropping out of Hogwarts! She's had enough of this shit.

"We all know Professor Moody considers the morning wasted if he hasn't discovered six plots to murder him before lunchtime." Karkaroff says loudly, "Apparently he is now teaching his students to fear assassination too. An odd quality in a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dumbledore, but no doubt you had your reasons."

"Imagining things, am I?" Moody growls, "Seeing things, eh? It was a skilled witch or wizard who put the boy's name in that goblet."

"Ah, what evidence is zere of zat?" Madame Maxime questions, throwing up her huge hands.

"Because they hoodwinked a very powerful magical object!" Moody say, "It would have needed an exceptionally strong Confundus Charm to bamboozle that goblet into forgetting that only three schools compete in the tournament. . . . I'm guessing they submitted Potter's name under a fourth school and Black under a fifth, to make sure they were only ones in their category."

Aurelia narrows her eyes suspiciously "You seem to know a lot —"

"You seem to have given this a great deal of thought, Moody!" Karkaroff remarks coldly, "And a very ingenious theory it is — though of course, I heard you recently got it into your head that one of your birthday presents contained a cunningly disguised basilisk egg, and smashed it to pieces before realizing it was a carriage clock. So you'll understand if we don't take you entirely seriously!"

"There are those who'll turn innocent occasions to their advantage!" Moody retorts in a menacing voice, "It's my job to think the way Dark wizards do, Karkaroff — as you ought to remember!"

"Alastor!" Dumbledore says warningly, both Karkaroff and Moody fall silent.

"How this situation arose, we do not know. It seems to me, however, that we have no choice but to accept it. Cedric, Aurelia, and Harry have been chosen to compete in the Tournament. Therefore, the three will do." Dumbledore says.

Aurelia inhales sharply, the room starts spinning again. She won't last a second in this tournament, Merlin, she doesn't want to die

"Ah, but Dumbly-dorr —"

"My dear Madame Maxime, if you have an alternative, I would be delighted to hear it."

Madame Maxime says nothing, merely glaring, she's not the only one though; everyone except for Bagman looked positively livid.

"Well, shall we crack on, then?" Bagman says, rubbing his hands together and smiling around the room, "Got to give our champions their instructions, haven't we? Barty, want to do the honors?"

"Yes," Mr. Crouch says, blinking, "Instructions. Yes . . . The first task. The first task is designed to test your daring so we are not going to be telling you what it is. Courage in the face of the unknown is an important quality in a wizard . . . Very important. . . . The first task will take place on November the twenty-fourth, in front of the other students and the panel of judges. The champions are not permitted to ask for or accept help of any kind from their teachers to complete the tasks in the tournament. The champions will face the first challenge armed only with their wands. They will receive information about the second task when the first is over. Owing to the demanding and time-consuming nature of the tournament, the champions are exempted from end-of-year tests."

"Ah, that's great to hear, I've got to compete in a deadly tournament against my will but — _hey_ , _ha ha_ , at least I don't got to do my exams!" Aurelia scoffs sarcastically, rolling her teary eyes.

Upon finishing the instructions, Crouch turns to Dumbledore "I think that is all, Albus."

Aurelia looks to Professor Sprout, swallowing the lump in her throat "P — professor?"

"Yes, dear?"

"Can I — I leave now?"

Sprout pats her back "In a few minutes, you must wait until you're dismissed."

Aurelia sighs tiredly, wiping more tears from her eyes.

"Lyra?" Sprout whispers to the younger professor.

Lyra raises an eyebrow "Yes, Pomona?"

"Go write to Maeve Macleod, Remus Lupin, and . . . I'm sorry to ask this of you but, your sister."

Aurelia glances at them, she gets why Professor Sprout wants her aunt to write to her mum and Mae but, Remus?

Lyra looks so offended "You want me to write to her? I —"

"Do you want her to find out through the paper?" Sprout counters.

Lyra scowls then huffs "I doubt, the wretch'll answer any letter from me."

"Let her know it's about Aurelia on the envelope and she will." Sprout says, patting Aurelia's back still.

Aurelia's somehow even more confused. Her mum's not gonna care if it's about her or not, her mum's hardly contacted her since Aurelia disowned herself from the Malfoys and had taken her mum's maiden name as her own.

"No." Lyra says after a moment, her grey eyes shining with unshed tears "I'm not writing to her, she ruined my life, Pomona, and so did —"

"That's enough, Lyra, don't write to her then." Sprout says.

"I'll let Remus handle the wretch, since —" Lyra cuts herself off, a few tears slide down her cheeks as she shakes her head.

"She gets everything." She mutters under her breath then stalks out of the chamber, much to Aurelia's confusion.

 _What's Remus go to do with this_?

Madam Maxime and Professor Karkaroff leave the chamber, dragging their champions with them. This distracts Aurelia from her pondering as she's once again hit with the realisation that she's a fucking Triwizard champion.

She holds back a sob as Dumbledore dismisses, her, Harry, and Cedric.

"Harry, Cedric, Aurelia, I suggest you go to bed. I am sure Gryffindor and Hufflepuff are waiting to celebrate with you, and it would be a shame to deprive them of this excellent excuse to make a great deal of mess and noise." Dumbeldore tells them.

Aurelia swallows thickly, bewildered that he could possibly think that she wants to celebrate _this_.

But, she along with Cedric, nods her head. The three of them leave together, venturing back up to the Great Hall which is deserted save for Neville, who perks up when he sees Aurelia.

"Ari! Harry! Have they fixed everything?" He questions, stumbling over to them.

Harry shakes his head numbly and Aurelia lets out a loud sob, Neville's hopeful expression falters.

"W — what happened?"

"We've got to compete." Harry says blankly.

"Yeah, we've got to compete against each other." Cedric says with a slight smile but Aurelia can't understand how he's smiling at a moment like this.

Neville's eyes widen as he looks at Aurelia who's once again dissolved into tears. Harry and Cedric leave her behind with Neville.

Aurelia hears Cedric ask Harry how he really got his name in the goblet; Neville pulls her into a tight hug and Harry's response is muffled by Neville's jumper which her ear is pressed against.

"Are you alright?" Neville asks, softly stroking her white curls as Aurelia cries into his jumper. Maybe, it's not the best question to ask but, he know's she'd much rather have him ask that than tell her that everything's going to be fine.

"This is real fine! Everythin' is fine and nothing is wrong in this world!" Aurelia replies, her tone hysterical.

Not the answer he's looking for, he raises an eyebrow "Then why are you having an emotional breakdown?"

"I'm not!" She denies shrilly, sobbing loudly yet again.

"Ari, do — do you really have to do this?"

"Yes!" She wails, body shaking violently as she does so, "Oh, Merlin! I'm not prepared for this! I can't do this, Neville, I'm goin' to die! I'm just a child, I don't know what to do! I can't do this! I can't!"

 _Good God_ , Aurelia's terrified.

"Yes, you can. You're Aurelia Black, and you can do anything! If you can fight off Gwendoline Goyle then you can do this!"

Aurelia shakes her head, clinging to him "No, Neville, not this. Not — no. I really can't do this."

"You can, I promise, you can do this because you already know so much about this tournament, you've read all about it, it — it's not always the same but sometimes they do pretty similar things, right? You just need to look for clues, look for spells. I — know it's scary but you're not alone. You've got me, you've got Cedric, and Harry. I'll be right by your side, through out this entire thing. You can count on me, Sunflower Girl." Neville reassures her.

Aurelia hugs him tightly, crying into his shoulder.

"I'm not ready for this!"

"I know, none of us were." Neville mumbles, "You don't have to win this thing, Ari, you've just got to survive."

"Some — someone put me in there because they want me dead!" Aurelia sobs, "They don't want me to survive, they — they aren't expectin' me to survive."

"Then . . . Then, prove them wrong."

Aurelia blinks, surprised at this.

"What?"

Neville turns red "Well, you say they put you in there to hurt you because they think it'll work, so show them that you — that it won't. Show them you can beat this — _I know you can_ , but they don't. Prove them wrong, survive this, hell, win it!"

Neville's eyes are wide as he gives her shoulders a little shake of encouragement "You _can_ do this, Ari, you're smart, you're quick, you know how to fight! If anyone can win this tournament, it's you."

Aurelia breathes heavily, her eyes wide. He actually thinks I can win this? He actually thinks I can survive this?

"Do more than survive; win."

 _He's right_.

As terrified as she is, as much as she doesn't want anything to do with this tournament, she's got to win — or at least survive it. Someone clearly put her in this tournament with the intentions of watching her be killed, they obviously think that she's weak — _and, hey, they might be right_ but, that's not going to stop her from proving that fucker wrong.

"Ye really think I can?" She asks Neville uncertainly.

He nods his head, firmly saying: "I know you can."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I Am So Soft for Nevari™! Catch my Be More Chill reference mostly because I am trash for George Salazar! Idk why but Neville's whole 'prove them wrong' line sounds weird to me especially coming from him but I had him say it because he knows that will help Aurelia. He knows that some things she likes to do out of spite, so he said it to give her something to fight for but like it just feels off to me but I still love it all the same? Idk if that makes sense . . . Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated! I would also really, really appreciate it if you could let me know what you thought of it!


	17. | XV: ❝V is for Rita's Vendetta❞

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there are y'all ready for Rita to stir some shit up?! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the chapter, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated! I would also really, really appreciate it if you could let me know what you thought of it!

**CHAPTER xv** ** _!_**  
V is for Rita's Vendetta

* * *

 **THE REST OF THE NIGHT IS A** complete blur to Aurelia, there's a huge party in the common room when she gets there most of them ignore her in favour for Cedric, some glare at her, her friends try to force her to celebrate but she shrugs them off. She feels like someone's suffocating her, nothing is right, everything is going to crush and burn. This shouldn't have happened to her, _why, why, why_?

Aurelia crawls under her covers, reviling in the darkness of the dorm and her misery as she tries to make it go way. She's not sure _what_ she's trying to make go away, she wants her mind to stop racing, she wants her heart to stop hammering against her chest, she wants this overwhelming panic to end.

She thought this year might go by decently despite the Triwizard Tournament being revived, she thought that she'd be able to keep herself together, keep her life moving on a track, but she's now running off the track because all the bolts and rails have all cracked. Everything around her is crashing and burning and she can't breathe. She can't fucking breathe.

Someone put her name in the Goblet of Fire to harm her or possibly kill her and no one is looking into it. No one cares, no one seems to realise that she too has been placed into the deadly tournament, they only care about Harry Potter.

She's got even more of a disadvantage than him, he's got supporters because he _killed_ Voldemort whereas her family supported Voldemort, they killed _for_ Voldemort. No one is going to care if she gets hurt or if she dies, that's why she's in this thing in the first place.

She feels so all alone.

Much to her surprise she falls asleep before any of her dorm mates even come to bed, Aurelia falls asleep hoping that this had all been a terrible dream. When she wakes up, the rising sun shines through the little circular windows, all her dorm mates are tucked in their beds sleeping peacefully.

Aurelia doesn't feel at peace; she doesn't feel anything at all.

Pulling herself from her bed, she heads to the showers.

Not even ten minutes, her dorm mates stir from their slumber — except Susan, she's been awake for hours. Olivia, normally not a morning person, is exceedingly giddy as she jumps up from her bed.

Olivia throws a pillow at the lump of sheets on Aurelia's bed that look deceivingly like a person curled up on the covers.

"Leave her alone, Newton!" Susan says, shaking her head at her dorm mate's antics.

"Why, Bones?" Olivia retorts, throwing another pillow at Aurelia's bed.

"She clearly doesn't want to be bothered, she probably wants to sleep in and not deal with the fact that she's in the tournament. In case you haven't bothered to notice, she wants nothing to do with it." Susan replies.

"Then how did her name get in if she didn't put it in?" Olivia counters.

"Who knows. Oh, Blue left to take a shower ten minutes ago." Susan tells her, "Those are just blankets."

"Oh."

Hannah rolls her eyes at Susan and Olivia as she makes her bed.

"She probably entered to impress Lover Boy Longbottom!" Hannah says, half-jokingly and half-bitterly.

Susan and Olivia turn to stare at her.

"What? Too soon?"

"Just a little." Olivia replies, smiling pitifully at her.

Hannah adores Aurelia, she really does. Aurelia's a great and loyal friend and Hannah normally doesn't take bad at her. But, Hannah started crushing on Neville Longbottom, the same boy that Aurelia's been blatantly crushing on since second year. Now, Hannah's been very bitter towards Aurelia even though she tries really hard not to be.

Aurelia's her friend first and she's trying really hard not to let some silly crush come between. Especially now more than ever, Aurelia needs all the support she can get and Hannah's got to do her best not to let her jealousy get in the way so she can support her friend.

"If this were a Muggle movie, Aurelia would've come into the room just as you said that." Olivia quips.

Believing Olivia's hinting that Aurelia had entered the dorm, Hannah whips her head around only to find that Olivia had truly been joking.

However, seconds later, Aurelia enters the dorm looking like a zombie.

"Oh, look! It's Aurelia Lee!"

Hannah and Susan share confused looks but Aurelia, who's seen _Grease_ like a thousand times thanks to Olivia, sighs and snaps: "Alright, which one of you bitches is shit talkin' me?!"

Hannah freezes because: _how does she knows_?

Olivia laughs "No one's shit talking you. Honestly, we were just talking about you and the tournament before you entered. You know me, I can't resist my _Grease_ references."

Aurelia rolls her brown eyes as she stumbles over to her bed to grab her wand off her night stand. She points her wand at her hair, muttering the spell for the Hot Air Charm to dry her soaking wet hair.

"What classes do we have to — it's Sunday." Aurelia realises with a groan, "Aw, fuck!"

The three girls stare at her concerned, Olivia asks: Are you gonna be alright?"

They frown as she replies: "No."

* * *

The rest of Sunday passes without incident mostly because Aurelia stayed in her dorm room all day, refusing to go out when her friends asked her too. Then Monday comes around and Aurelia knows it's going to be a dreadful day, maybe even week, the moment she wakes up from a horrid nightmare.

The nightmare had been about the Goblet of Fire. More specifically, who put her name in the Goblet of Fire.

In the nightmare, Voldemort had been sitting in Dumbledore's chair, in the Great Hall, and she was sure it was him. She had seen a drawing of him, Mae had drawn him once years ago and she had stumbled across it. He was scary to look at, he radiated a dangerous power as he sat in the chair like it was his throne; glaring down at the Goblet of Fire with dark eyes.

In front of the Goblet had stood her Aunt Bellatrix, holding a crumpled piece of parchment in her hand, just above the burning blue flame.

" _You know my rule, Bella._ " Voldemort had hissed, " _She must be destroyed. They all must be destroyed. Put her name in the goblet and she will perish._ "

Her aunt didn't need to be told twice, dropping the name into the fire without a hint of remorse, her icy blue eyes alight with an alarming madness.

As Aurelia's name disappeared into the depths of the goblet, the blue flames turned red and her aunt let out a shrill and terrible. But it had not been her aunt's real laugh but Gwendoline Goyle's laugh.

Aurelia had looked up only to watch her aunt's face literally melt into Gwen's face. At this, Aurelia had let out a horrified scream and promptly woke herself up.

She immediately knows that she's late as her dorm is completely empty. Looking at the alarm clock on Olivia's night stand, her eyes widen in horror. Class had started ten minutes ago.

To make matters worse, she had Potions first thing.

"Oh, shit!" Aurelia yelps, jumping out of bed.

This is going to be a very, very long week.

* * *

Friday afternoon, during her favourite class of all, History of Magic, the Triwizard Tournament comes back around to ruin her already shitty mood. Colin Creevey arrives along with Harry, the second-year tells Professor Binns that 'Mr. Bagman needs her and Harry for photos.' and Aurelia finds herself being dragged out of her favourite class to go get some stupid photos to promote a stupid tournament she doesn't want to nor shouldn't be in.

Stepping out the classroom, Colin comments that it must be amazing to be a champion and it takes everything in Aurelia not to scream bloody murder.

"What do they need photographs for?" Aurelia sighs tiredly.

"The Daily Prophet."

Aurelia freezes, if they've sent Rita fucking Skeeter to write the articles about the tournament then Aurelia's going to throw herself out a window. She hates Rita Skeeter and she's pretty certain the feeling's mutual.

It's a _family thing_ , really. And it all started when her Aunt Bellatrix went to Hogwarts, her and Skeeter had been dorm mates, to make a very long, petty feud-filled story short, everyone in Aurelia's family hates Rita Skeeter because her and Bellatrix had been in a seven year-long fight over who the meanest bitch at school was. Spoiler alert: neither won. Gwendoline Goyle took the cake on that one.

"Fuckin' wonderful." Aurelia curses, "Harold, if I try to throw m'self out a window, don't try and stop me."

"If you call me Harold one more time you can count on me to be the one to throw you through that window." Harry retorts.

"Harold."

Colin comes to a stop in front of classroom door "Good luck." he tells them and hurries back to whatever class he's supposed to be in. Harry knocks on the door before entering it, Aurelia following behind him.

It's a rather small classroom and it's hard to miss Rita Skeeter and her dramatically magenta-coloured robs. And it's hard for Rita to miss the Bellartrix clone walking through the door even with the Boy-Who-Lived right beside her.

"You." The blonde hisses, narrowing her eyes.

"You." Aurelia hisses back, matching Skeeter's tone of malice.

Rita looks like she's going to tackle Aurelia and she might've had Bagman not exclaimed: "Ah, here he is! Champion number four and five! In you come, Harry, in you come . . . Nothing to worry about, it's just the wand weighing ceremony, the rest of the judges will be here in a moment —"

Aurelia doesn't bother mentioning that — _hey! I exist y'know, asshole_! to Bagman because at this point it's a lost cause, all he cares about is Harry. She doesn't like the fact are people are completely ignoring the fact she's part of this tournament even though that's exactly what she's trying to do.

"We have to check that your wands are fully functional, no problems, you know, as they're your most important tools in the tasks ahead." Bagman explains, "The expert's upstairs now with Dumbledore. And then there's going to be a little photo shoot. This is Rita Skeeter, she's doing a small piece on the tournament for the Daily Prophet. . . ."

"Maybe not that small, Ludo." Skeeter says, her eyes on Harry and Aurelia.

Aurelia glares at her, trying to remember all the stories that her mother had told her about Skeeter. If Skeeter tries to pull something against her, she'll use one of the pranks her aunts pulled on her. Aurelia smiles, recalling her favourite one — _the perfect one_.

"I wonder if I could have a little word with Harry and Aurelia before we start?" Skeeter asks Bagman as she gazes fixedly at Harry and Aurelia, "The youngest champions, you know . . . To add a bit of color?"

 _Bull fuckin' shit_ , Aurelia thinks, rolling her eyes.

"Certainly!" Bagman cries, "That is — if Harry has no objection?"

He didn't even try to include Aurelia this time around, she rolls her eyes again.

"Er —" Harry says.

"I'd rather die." Aurelia mutters darkly but it's too late Skeeter's wrapped her fingers — more like talons, around Aurelia's skinny forearm and then she grabs Harry's with the other, the bitch has got a surprisingly strong grip.

"Lovely." Skeeter says, dragging Aurelia and Harry out of the room and to a nearby door. She opens that and shoves Aurelia into it, she's a bit more careful with Harry.

"We don't want to be in there with all that noise." Skeeter remarks, "Let's see . . . Ah, yes, this is nice and cozy."

It's a broom cupboard.

"Ah, a closet, I feel right at home." Aurelia sarcastically remarks under her breath.

"What was that, dear?" Skeeter asks, the 'dear' is laced with enough venom to kill Aurelia ten times over.

"Nothing." Aurelia snaps.

Skeeter narrows her eyes before smiling too sweetly at Aurelia and Harry and asking: "You won't mind if I use a Quick-Quotes Quill? It leaves me free to talk the two of you normally. . . ."

"I m —"

"A what?" Harry questions.

 _Oh, good lord, this bitch is going to write so much shit about us_! Aurelia thinks exasperated.

"Testing . . . My name is Rita Skeeter, Daily Prophet reporter." Skeeter says, the quill starts to write on its own, "Lovely . . . So, Harry . . . what made you decide to enter the Triwizard Tournament?"

"Wait, we never said you could use that quill!" Aurelia points out annoyed.

"Er —" Harry says, distracted by the quill that is writing down words that aren't being spoken.

"Ignore the quill, Harry." Skeeter tells him firmly, "Now — why did you decide to enter the tournament, Harry?"

"We didn't." Aurelia answers for him, she doesn't trust Skeeter and Harry's got no idea how terrible this woman can be, "We're too young to put our names in, we — especially me — want nothing to do with this tournament. We've got no idea how our names ended up in the goblet."

Skeeter gives her a dirty look "I was asking, Harry. You'll get your fame that you, oh so crave like the Black that you are, in a moment."

"Listen you old c —" Aurelia cuts herself off. She's got a potty mouth, she always has and always will but that's one word she _tries_ not to use. If she's going to say that word, she'd rather save it for her aunt if she ever meets her, Rita Skeeter no matter how foul doesn't deserve to be called that _word_ by Aurelia. Aurelia smiles politely "Very well, continue then, Madam Skeeter."

"I didn't." Harry replies, "Like Blue said, I don't know how my name got into the Goblet of Fire. I didn't put it in there."

"Come now, Harry, there's no need to be scared of getting into trouble. We all know you shouldn't really have entered at all. But don't worry about that. Our readers love a rebel."

"But I didn't enter," Harry repeats. "I don't know who —"

"How do you feel about the tasks ahead? Excited? Nervous?" Skeeter questions.

Aurelia's stomach churns painfully at the mere thought of the tasks, _I'm fucked, totally fucked_.

"I haven't really thought . . . Yeah, nervous, I suppose," Harry replies.

"Champions have died in the past, haven't they? Have you thought about that at all?" Rita asks.

Aurelia feels faint, she already knew this but being reminded of it as a Triwzard champion brings about a whole new sense of fear.

"Well . . . they say it's going to be a lot safer this year," Harry says, which might've been true before their names had been entered. If someone could mess with the Goblet of Fire then they can mess with the tasks just as easily.

"Of course, you've looked death in the face before, haven't you?" Skeeter says, "How would you say that's affected you? Do you think that the trauma in your past might have made you keen to prove yourself? To live up to your name? Do you think that perhaps you were tempted to enter the Triwizard Tournament because —"

"I didn't enter," Harry repeats irritably.

"Can you remember your parents at all?" Skeeter asks, talking over him.

"No," Harry says.

"How do you think they'd feel if they knew you were competing in the Triwizard Tournament? Proud? Worried? Angry?"

 _How the fuck is he supposed to know the answer to that_ — Aurelia's distracted by the scratching of the quill so she peers down at it and snorts as she reads: **_Tears fill those startling green eyes as our conversation turns to the parents he can barely remember._**

Harry looks down to and exclaims: "I have NOT got tears in my eyes!"

Before Skeeter can say anything, the door of the broom cupboard opens. Dumbledore stands there, looking down at the three of them, squashed into the cupboard.

Aurelia's never felt more happy to see Dumbledore before.

"Dumbledore! How are you?!" Rita cries out delighted, "I hope you saw my piece over the summer about the International Confederation of Wizards' Conference?"

"Enchantingly nasty," Dumbledore replies, "I particularly enjoyed your description of me as an obsolete dingbat."

 _Does this woman have any shame_? Aurelia wonders, freeing herself from the confines of the cupboard. Of course, she knows the answer to her question, and that would be: _no. None at all._

"I was just making the point that some of your ideas are a little old-fashioned, Dumbledore, and that many wizards in the street —"

"I will be delighted to hear the reasoning behind the rudeness, Rita." Dumbledore, says with a courteous bow and a smile, "But I'm afraid we will have to discuss the matter later. The Weighing of the Wands is about to start, and it cannot take place if two of our champions are hidden in a broom cupboard."

Aurelia and Harry scurry back into the room with the other champions who were all sitting in chairs now. Aurelia sits down on one side of Cedric and Fleur, Harry sits down on Cedric's other side.

"May I introduce Mr. Ollivander?" Dumbledore says, taking his place at the judges' table and talking to the champions, "He will be checking your wands to ensure that they are in good condition before the tournament."

Mr. Ollivander steps forward into the middle of the room and asks for Fleur's wand first, the blonde sweeps over to him and hands over her wand.

He examines the wand thoroughly, he's surprised to find that the core is from a Veela and he comments that he's never made a wand with Veela hair before then he casts a spell. Finally he announces that her wand's in perfect working order.

He then turns to Cedric, examining his wand which turns out to be perfectly fine and then he asks for Viktor's wand to examine, it turns out to be in perfect working order.

"Miss. Black."

Aurelia nervously gets up and hands over her wand to the old man.

He inspects the wand carefully "My great-great grandmother, Gelasia was quite fond of this wand, it was her most prized creation. Has it worked well with you, Thestral hair is very unstable?"

Aurelia nods "It's worked wonderfully."

"To this day I still haven't attempted to craft a wand with Thestral hair, my grandmother was far more adventurous than I will ever be." Ollivander remarks, "Cypress wood, twelve inches, it's unyielding I believe . . . It gives others a hard time if they try to use it?"

Aurelia nods "Sometimes, it worked for Cedric when he tried to use it but not for Olivia."

"Mhm, Mr. Diggory's wand core is made of Unicorn hair, my grandmother mentioned that this wand may be fond of other wands with Unicorn hair, it must've sensed Mr. Diggory's wand contained Unicorn hair . . . Do you recall what your friend's wand contains?"

"Kneazle whisker, I think." Aurelia replies.

Ollivander nods as he twirls her wand between his fingers, then he points it firmly saying: "Aberto." causing all the windows to open.

He declares that her wand works perfectly and hands it back to her, Aurelia returns to her seat as the Wandmaker calls up Harry for the inspection.

Ollivander spends the longest time examining Harry's wand but in the end he declares that Harry's wand is in perfect working condition like the rest of them.

"Thank you all, you may go back to your lessons now — or perhaps it would be quicker just to go down to dinner, as they are about to end —" Dumbledore says.

Aurelia jumps up, relieved to hear she can go now but than Bagman ruins it by exclaiming: "Photos, Dumbledore, photos! All the judges and champions, what do you think, Rita?"

"Er — yes, let's do those first." Skeeter says although she doesn't sound thrilled by the idea as she stares at Aurelia then at Harry, "And then, perhaps some individual shots."

The photo's take way too long for Aurelia's liking; the only thing that's keeping her from scowling is the thought of the ' _Pink Paint Mistake_ ' that happened to Skeeter thanks to her aunts, Bellatrix and Andromeda.

Eventually they're free to go, Aurelia's almost out the door when Skeeter grabs her arm unexpectedly.

Aurelia feels a panic welling up inside her, _this can't be good_.

Sensing her unease, Skeeter grins widely at her "I won't keep you long, Black. I only have one question to ask you?"

Aurelia narrows her eyes suspiciously "Oh, yeah? What's that, Skeeter?"

Skeeter pulls out a photograph from her crocodile-skin handbag, Aurelia catches a glimpse of the moving polaroid and her heart stops.

 _Oh, shit_.

"How did you get those scars?"

Aurelia swallows thickly, there's no use in lying because that will only make the piece Skeeter's going to write about it worse.

"A . . . A werewolf. I was n — nine when it happened, I . . . Got lost in the woods near my home." Aurelia replies quietly, tears welling in her eyes at the memory.

"Why do you hide them?"

Aurelia so badly wants to point out that's more than one question but she doesn't because this is her chance to save herself from the humiliating, privacy-invading article Skeeter's got planned for her.

"I don't like it when people stare at them, it's annoying." Aurelia replies, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible.

Skeeter deflates slightly "So people know about them?"

Aurelia nods her head "Yes, most people think they're _nasty_ but others stare at me with a lot pity so I keep them hidden."

She watches the sly expression slip off Skeeter's face with grim satisfaction. Of course, this doesn't completely erase the chances of Skeeter writing about her scars or mentioning them in the article about the champions but it certainly lowers them. It gives her more time.

"So, if I wrote about the attack in my article to shine a light on just how strong you are, it wouldn't come as a surprise to anyone?" Skeeter questions nonchalantly.

Aurelia narrows her eyes "listen here, you little bug!"

Skeeter flinches at this, eyes widening slightly as all colour drains from her face.

Aurelia snorts, _that wasn't even the worse thing I could say to her_!

"I don't know what yer playin' at but no! No one would be surprised!" Aurelia snarls, for good measure, she wipes the make up off her face, exposing most of her scars.

 _Good Godric_ , she hopes this is enough to stop her from even mentioning the scars in the article, _it probably isn't_ , _knowing what a little bitch Skeeter can be_. The worst part: is she's now got to tell her friends about the scars before they're possibly exposed in a fucking article of all things.

"Oh, I see." Skeeter says, sounding positively disinterested in the topic now.

"So you do, indeed." Aurelia snaps, rubbing more of her make-up off, "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got food to go eat — Oh! By the way, there's something pink — in your hair, it looks like paint."

Skeeter gives a gasp of horror, hands flying up to her hairline and Aurelia gives her a shit-eating grin that reminds her so much of Bellatrix and Andromeda back during her Hogwarts years. Leaving the blonde think that maybe, just maybe she best leave Aurelia alone no matter how badly she wants to get revenge on the Black sisters.

"Bye, bye Madam Skeeter!" Aurelia says, smiling sweetly as she tries to ignore the tears blurring her vision. She's not going to let herself _cry_ in front of _Rita Skeeter_ , that's worse than being in this bloody tournament. Which says a lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUNNNN! Rita knows about Aurelia's scars! What do you think is gonna happen? Just so you know, Aurelia doesn't know about Rita being an Animagus. It's just Mae who does. According to canon, Rita and Bellatrix went to Hogwarts the same year which means they were roommates (oh my god, they were roommates) as Rita was also a Slytherin. So NO ONE can tell me that they didn't spend seven years mean girlsing the everliving the heck out of each other! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I would really appreciate it if you could let me know what you thought of it!]


	18. | XVI: ❝Tybalt Riddle❞

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there, I'm super excited for this chapter because I'm really proud of it and I hope you enjoy it because so far out of all the chapters I've written, it's my pride and joy! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the chapter, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated! I would also really, really appreciate it if you could let me know what you thought of it!

**CHAPTER xvi** ** _!_**  
Tybalt Riddle (One out of Six)

* * *

 **SHE SHOULD** ' **VE KNOWN THIS YEAR WAS GOING** to go horribly the moment Mae announced the Triwizard Tournament, but Aurelia held onto hope that it wouldn't. And Aurelia should've definitely known everything around her was going to crash and burn when she made the decision to tell her friends about her scars. Why on Earth would she make such a stupid decision?

She doesn't particularly recall making the decision _not_ to tell her friends about her scars, sure she had wanted to hide them away but she had never been against the idea of telling people that she had been attacked by a werewolf. She could've told them without showing her scars but she didn't, it's just the whole first year had passed and she had kinda forgotten to bring up the whole werewolf thing so the next year she just didn't and it never really came out. It hadn't meant to be a secret even if she wasn't particularly thrilled at the prospect of telling her friends she had been a scratching post for a werewolf.

She never went out of her way to hide them from her friends, she had just become accustomed to putting the make-up on that she forget she really didn't need to do it. There's no doubt that she's terrified to tell them as her scars had lost her friends in the past.

(Okay maybe it _is_ a secret but she swears she _really_ never meant for it to be.)

Aurelia breaks down in tears the moment she knows for sure Rita can no longer hear or see her. Aurelia wonders just how exactly she's going to tell her friends; will she even be able to coherently speak about it — _you bet your ass you won't_!

She had royally fucked up.

She tells herself that she had a right to hide this from everyone, she lost friends because of them, these scars ruined her, damaged her, made her dirty. She had a right. But, another part of her says she's in the wrong. What she did is truly horrible.

Mae always encouraged her to wear the scars like a badge of a honour and Aurelia supposes she had tried, she really did, because Mae had asked but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She tried so hard to be okay with them but it was so hard and she'd give herself headaches trying to hide them with her Metamorphmagus abilities. Hiding them had been so hard it gave her nosebleeds, which is why Mae decided to get her the make-up even though she really didn't want to. In the end, Mae decided that Aurelia's health and comfort came first.

She should've never kept this from them but she didn't want to lose them like she had lost, Blaise, Daphne, and Millicent.

Aurelia didn't want them to see her as dirty too but now she has no choice but to let them. She'll be damned if Skeeter's the one lets it out, twisting around the story to make it worse.

Stalking down the corridor with tears streaming down her flushed cheeks, Aurelia can feel eyes on her. She's not sure if it's because of the scars, or the tears, or both. Either way she _hates_ it. She hates Skeeter.

She's not ready to tell them now. She's not — she's got too.

Neville's got Potions, so he should be heading up from his lessons now as classes had just let out a few minutes ago. Aurelia heads to the dungeons, hoping to catch him before he gets to the Great Hall.

She wants to tell Neville first because she's already got a gist on how he's going to react, her other friends are unknown territory. Just thinking of what their reactions might be is enough to reduce her to a quivering mess.

Neville had just climbed up the stairs from the dungeons when Aurelia shoves him into the nearest broom cupboard. He squeaks out in fear, not realising it's her until she lets out a quiet sob.

Neville looks at her in concern and confusion, he can't see her face as she's looking at the ground but even if she had been looking at him he doubts he'd be able to see her well as it's rather dark in there.

"Ari, what's wrong?" He asks worriedly.

"Sk — sk — Skeeter!" She sobs, "She — she knows!"

Neville doesn't know exactly what Skeeter knows but when Skeeter knows something it's never good.

"What does she know, Ari?" He asks softly, it must be something to do with her aunt, that's only thing Neville can think that would get a reaction like this out of Aurelia. Of course, most people know about her aunt so would it really get a reaction like this?

"She know — she knows that I'm dirty!" Aurelia sobs, her entire body shakes with nerves.

"What? How — you're not dirty! What does that even mean?!"

Aurelia takes a deep breath but ends up choking on it.

"Ari, calm down . . . Breathe, okay . . . Just breathe." Neville tells her softly, grabbing her shoulders gently.

"She knows about the werewolf." Aurelia whispers, "She knows about the werewolf and now I — I — I have to tell everyone how dirty — how _nasty_ — how ugly — tainted I am be — before she does."

"What are you talking about, Ari?" He asks, not at all thrilled by the way she's belittling herself but he's knows it'll do no good to stop her at this moment, she's hysterical.

"The werewolf! Anya Porter! She — she was part of Greyback's p — p — pack before my dad killed her."

"Ari, it's not your fault — what your dad did to her —"

"She deserved it!" Aurelia says sharply, surprising him.

 _That's not like her_ , Neville thinks, _maybe she does hate werewolves_.

Aurelia breathes heavily, trying her best to keep that woman's voice from invading her mind, she squeezes her eyes shut tightly. _Go away, go away, go away_.

She remembers that night so vividly. She remembers the event that caused her to leave the manor in the first place just as well. Aurelia shudders.

"You know that werewolves can't help it, Aurelia." Neville says almost sternly and Aurelia flinches at the use of her full name. He almost never uses her full name.

"I know that." Aurelia bites out, angry at herself.

This isn't going the way she had thought it would. Why isn't it, what had changed, what had went wrong?

She looks up and although Neville can't see her face properly, he knows something's different.

"But she _chose_ to come find me that night. She _chose_ to beckon me closer knowing that any moment she was going to lose control! She _chose_ to ruin me!" Aurelia exclaims angrily.

She had been so very stupid but she had thought that woman was hurt — she just wanted to help, she just wanted to — then she started to transform and she reached out, slashing Aurelia's face. Aurelia had fallen to her knees and when she got up, the woman was completely transformed, her snout right in Aurelia's face, ready to take a bite — so Aurelia punched it and then the werewolf slashed her chest, her stomach — _it hurt so bad_ — Aurelia fell down again, screaming and then the werewolf tried to — there was a bright green light and Mae was screaming —

"You're a werewolf!" Neville breathes out, how had he not noticed her missing every full moon, sure he had noticed it once or twice but —

"NO!" Aurelia cries out, gripping his robes tightly, afraid that he'll leave her, "No, she — she didn't g — get to. She didn't bite me, my d — d — dad killed her before she could. I am not a werewolf." don't leave me, don't leave me, don't leave.

Neville's eyebrows furrow together in confusion, if she's not a werewolf then why is she making such a big deal about this?

Aurelia rubs aggressively her scars, _stupid, stupid, stupid_.

"Skeeter doesn't know all the details, she just knows about the scars and the werewolf. She doesn't know about all the work that went into hidin' it. My dad killed someone and he had to hide that and as far as he was concerned, I was gonna die soon too — there was so much blood."

 _So much_. Aurelia can almost feel it; hot and sticky, getting in her eyes and sticking in her hair. It hurt so very much.

"Blood from what? If you weren't bit then why were you bleeding?"

On most days Aurelia's always patient with Neville despite not being a very patient person. Today's an exception.

"Werewolves have claws." Aurelia snaps, though she doesn't mean to she's just _so_ angry.

Angry at Skeeter, that spying little bitch! _How had she even gotten the picture_? She'd had to of been in a tree to have taken it, Aurelia doesn't remember seeing her and trust Aurelia, she would've remembered seeing Rita Skeeter there.

 _It clicks_.

Neville's eyes widen, the scars she had shown him are _real_! But, why hadn't she just told him then? Why had she hid them at all?

Aurelia rubs at her scars, harder.

"She got me . . . She got — twice. She got me twice. One — once in my face and — and then in — in my stomach." Aurelia stammers, gripping his robes tighter as she sobs, " I didn't — I don't know how Skeeter got a picture of my scars, I — she won't be able find anythin' else, there's no record of this happenin' anywhere. My dad went through lengths to cover it up, he buried the werewolf's body somewhere on our property and they wouldn't take me to St. Mungo's so Mae had to heal me the Muggle way. My parents — I — think they kinda wanted me to succumb to my injuries. The second hit, it was rather bad. I almost bled out and then my dad woulda probably buried my body on the property too." Aurelia says quickly.

Her nails dig into the flesh of her cheek, she hates her scars, she wants them to go away.

Neville reaches up and pulls Aurelia's hand away from her face, worried that she'd hurt herself if he didn't. As he looks closer, he can sort of see her scars, Neville purses his lips to hold back a gasp of horror, that would probably make things worse.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Neville asks, _or anyone for that matter_?

Aurelia scowls her lower lip, jutting out "No one would've wanted to be my friend."

"I would!" Neville says indignantly.

Aurelia laughs dryly "Yeah, right! As if you'd want to be friends with me and my ugly, _nasty_ scars!"

"They're not ugly!"

Aurelia snorts "You said they were _nasty_!"

Neville lets out a quiet little "Oh." as Aurelia bursts into tears.

"Ari." Neville says softly as he hesitantly places a hand on her cheek, "I didn't mean it like that! I sup — suppose that it — it sound — sounds like I did but I swear I — I didn't!"

Her eyebrows furrow together "How'd you mean it then?"

"I meant 'nasty' as in — in they looked painful! I don't think they're ugly! I'd never think you're ugly!"

"Really?"

"Really." Neville says, brushing his thumb over one of her scars, "They're not ugly, they change nothing about how I see you. You're still beautiful!"

Her breath catches in her throat, the urge to kiss the bloody hell out of him returns stronger than ever and she lowers her face to do so.

She ends up kissing the corner of his mouth, chickening out of actually kissing him at the last second. Aurelia feels his dimple grow under her lips and she thinks that the fact that he's smiling because she almost kissed him is much better than actually kissing him. The little giggle that escapes his lips next confirms it.

Letting go of Neville's robes, Aurelia straightens herself out, her heart races rapidly. Bot of them are blushing messes but that fact is hidden by the darkness of the cupboard.

"So they don't bug you?" Aurelia questions after a moment, her giddiness melting back into nervousness, "I mean, that's o — okay if they do, they bugged my par — parents, they bug — bugged my old friends they b — b — bug me. So, it — it's okay if you don't like them, just please do — don't leave me."

"Aurelia, they don't bug me. They're scars, they don't change who you are to me." Neville says, absentmindedly stroking her marred cheek.

"You won't leave me?" She whispers.

"Never." He replies.

Aurelia feels so relieved.

Neville pulls her into a tight hug "I — I'll never leave you."

"Th — th — thank you." Aurelia whispers, tears threatening to spill once more. _Oh, Merlin_ , how is she going to handle telling all her other friends?

* * *

She handles telling her other friends about her scars very badly. So badly, in fact, Neville's got to do it for her.

Normally Neville's not the one to speak to groups of people, especially Aurelia closest friends. And he mostly means, Olivia as she intimidates the bloody hell out of him. But, he does it, albeit, there's a lot of stuttering involved. However, Neville's nervous stuttering is far more coherent than Aurelia's stressed blubbering.

Her friends handle it well; far better than her old friends had and she's thankful for that. By the end of this whole ordeal, she's a little less ashamed of her scars but she still can't wait to go back to covering them up, people will stare at her far less. She doesn't like it when people stare at her scars.

She can't hide them just yet, she's got to give it a few weeks. At least until the first has come and gone — if she survives it, that is. The longer she keeps her scars visible the less likely it is for Skeeter to write an article about them.

Aurelia managed to escape the first article with nothing more than two sentences and a misspelt name. No one paid much attention to it, except Seamus, of course, he can't get over it.

"I still can't get over this!" Seamus squeals with laughter, he sounds almost incoherent to Aurelia and Neville.

A copy of the Daily Prophet is clutched tightly in his grasp "Ooh! This is by far the best thing I've ever read, it bloody beats my theories — Aurora Malfoy, the possible lovechild of Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Le — le — Lestrange has — Merlin!"

Aurelia rolls her eyes, usually she loses her shit when someone says she's Bellatrix's daughter but this time, she doesn't — it annoys the fuck out of her but it makes her laugh more than anything. She knows this one can't be true, there's no possibility of that happening ever; Aurelia can just imagine her father sitting in his office, petting his stupid albino peafowl as he reads the Daily Prophet only to gag when he reads that Skeeter's insinuated that he shagged his sister-in-law.

This isn't plausible in the slightest, thought she supposes she looks like she could be, her dad would never cheat on her mum, they genuinely love each other. And, he certainly wouldn't have shagged Bellatrix out all of the women he knows. Aurelia has heard stories, she's got blurry memories and all her dad and aunt had down was go at each other's throats. Although, her dad did speak of Bellatrix fondly, but he only ever saw her as an annoying older sister.

This 'theory' is complete bullshit. Seamus' theories are irritating but they're far more plausible than the one Skeeter's come up with. He theorises Bellatrix is her real mum and as much as Aurelia loathes it, she knows there's a wee possibility it could be true. Seamus also theorises that she's Sirius Black's daughter, Aurelia thinks it's plausible but less likely than the Bellatrix theory. If she had been Sirius' daughter, she would've ended up in Auntie Wally's care and not the Malfoys'.

Aurelia shudders at the thought of being that woman's daughter, it's bad enough she's my aunt! She shakes her head, _no_. _You know who you are: Aurelia Alice Malfoy, the daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy though sometimes you wish you were the daughter of Maeve Macleod. That'd be nice. But you are not Bellatrix's daughter nor are you Sirius' daughter. Sirius wouldn't be too bad as a father but, still . . . That's not who you are_.

"I've got to get to the library!" Aurelia announces, she had been planning to go there earlier but she got distracted by Neville, Seamus, and Dean — mostly Neville.

Seamus groans playfully "But we were just about to discuss the juicy details about your father's lovely aff — affair with B — B — Bell —" the rest of his sentence becomes an incoherent mess as he bursts into a fit of giggles.

Aurelia finds herself growing annoyed, not with Seamus but herself. Why had she thought about that? He had barely brought his theories up, _yet you started overthinking_. _Why do I always do this to myself_?

She slings the strap of her bag over her shoulder and leaves the Gryffindor Common Room she had been invited into earlier this afternoon, Neville trails behind behind her, asking if he can come with her.

"I've got to go to the restricted section." Aurelia tells him, checking her bag to make sure she's brought her Invisibility Cloak with her.

"Why?" Neville wonders nervously, it's not unusual for her to go into the restricted section but he doesn't like it, he's always worried that she'll get caught.

"To look for spells for the first task." She replies.

"I th — th — thought they didn't give you any clues."

"Oh, they didn't but Ginny did. Not that she realises it. She mentioned that her older brothers, Bill and Charlie will be around this year." Aurelia says, a grin stretching across her face, "Which is odd because neither of them have really been 'round since they graduated — save Charlie but that was for the dragon fiasco. So, I think them being here has somethin' to do with the tournament."

Neville nods, _bloody hell she's smart_.

"Although I could be wrong, maybe they're just here to watch the tournament or maybe they're here for the other tasks but it's the only thing I've got to go on. Anyway, Bill's into Curse-Breakin' and all that jazz, Charlie's real into dragons — much to Nym's dismay but she's over that now or so she says — and I think the first task or the other two could be based on those things."

Aurelia takes a deep breath from explaining then continues "The first task I believe is supposed to test one's darin' but I could be wrong, I was still screaming internally when they started talkin' about the task so I didn't exactly hear properly. Anyway, Curse-Breakin' to me, at least, when compared to dragons doesn't really test one's darin'. So, I'm thinkin' it's goin' to be dragons for the first task."

Neville inhales sharply "Dragons?!"

"More than likely. But, don't worry, Plant Boy. I could be wrong, after all they didn't give us any clues, this is just my theory and I could be very wrong. But, it's better to be prepared for somethin' than nothin' at all."

"I suppose but why do you have to go to the restricted section to do that?"

"They'll have stronger spells there, especially for Curse-Breaking." Aurelia replies, "You don't really have to come with me, Nev."

"I know." He says as his eyes dart around nervously as they approach the library, "But — but, I want to help."

Aurelia grins as she blushes "Oh okay, th — thanks."

She glances around to make sure no one's looking at them as she pulls her Invisibility Cloak out of her bag and over herself and Neville. Getting into the restricted section is smooth sailing although Neville's still nervous they'll get caught.

He's never been in the restricted section but he knows about it thanks to Aurelia's stories, she's been here about five or so times to read through some history books. He didn't ever think that he'd go there but Aurelia needs help and he'll do anything to help her. Neville knows he's not the most useful person but at least he's trying and at least he's good at being supportive.

"Okay." Aurelia whispers, drawing him from his thoughts, "The books on this shelf seem to be about Curse-Breaking. We'll start with these."

"I thought you were certain it was going to be dragon, wouldn't you rather look for spells to fight against a dragon or dragons — I can do that!"

"Thanks, but I've already got a spell for the dragon, I just need to take out some books — ones in the non-restricted section to cover my tracks. This is just in case the task has something to do with Curse-Breaking." Aurelia whispers.

"Why do you you need to cover your tracks?" Neville whispers back.

"The spell I'm going to use is of my creation." Aurelia replies.

Neville nods, some spells she doesn't mind sharing with people and others would have to be pried out of her cold, dead hands before she even mentioned them. Aurelia likes to keep her spells on the down-low, even some of the spells in her book are unknown to Neville; he has seen more than most people though. He's sure she'd tell him, out of all people if he asked, but he'd much rather her come to him about it. Whatever the spell may be, if she's comfortable then she'll come to him.

She pulls three books from their shelves and places them on the table in front of them, opening on the books and searching through it. Neville follows suit with another one of the books, he's not sure what to look for as he knows nothing about Curse-Breaking but he wants to help, he wants to be useful to Aurelia.

Opening the book he's greeted by the horrible sight of spilled ink and dried blood.

"Oh." Neville whimpers, going pale.

Aurelia glances at him to see what's wrong and her brown eyes land on the index page of the book and they go wide "Oh, now that's disturbing."

It's not the worst thing she's seen in the restricted section and the sarcastic comment slips from her lips with ease until she spot the name scratched into the yellowed page. It's not the only name on there, there's others that are hard to make out because of the dried blood and spilled ink but, this name sticks out as it's scrawled across the page with very little spilled ink and dried blood in its path. _Tybalt Riddle_.

She's disturbed now.

 _Tybalt Riddle_.

Her stomach twists painfully.

 _Poor Tybalt Riddle_.

One out of six children born to Voldemort — Or rather, at the time Tybalt would've been born, Tom — Tim? Aurelia's not sure what his first name is — Riddle. The eldest of the children, born to his very estranged and very deceased wife, Esrom Riddle. Tybalt had been different from the other six. He had made it, he had been born. Tybalt had lived a month, he got to know his mother's love before he was killed by his father's resentment and insecurity.

Tybalt Riddle became a horror story amongst the Death-Eaters in her parents circle, Voldemort had lost several supporters for the slaughter of his own son — he then slaughtered those swayed supporters. _Poor wee Tybalt_.

"Ari?" Neville whispers, nudging her gently as she stares at the book and breathes rapidly. One minute she had made a sarcastic comment about it the next she's staring at it like it's the most horrifying thing in the world — _oh no! What if it's cursed_! "What is — is it?"

He hope it's not cursed and it doesn't seem to be as Aurelia breaks from her trance-like state and points at the the clearest and largest name in the book.

"That's the son of Voldemort."

Neville barely bites back a yelp, he's not sure what scares him most, the use of You-Know-Who's real name or the fact he apparently had a kid. Neville should be used to Aurelia's use of his name, she does it all the time. She's scared of You-Know-Who just like everyone else but she uses the name with ease, he thinks it's because she's come to view his real name as a curse word, it's certainly treated like one and Aurelia's got a nasty but very cute habit — _have you heard her say the 'f' word, it sounds like she's saying 'fook' and that is the cutest thing ever_! — of using every curse word imaginable. To her, at least he thinks, You-Know-Who's real name is no different than the 'f' word.

"Wh — what?"

"His son, the ministry knows about him as there was a body. He had many other children, six known to the Death-Eaters. Another one, is also known to the Ministry but there's no body for her, so they're not to sure about that one as the only source is from the distraught and deranged mother, Callisto — they're all dead." Aurelia explains.

She feels sick.

Voldemort had _slaughtered_ six of his _own_ children without a hint of regret. Five which had never made it out of the womb, three of which were never named.

"All six of them?"

Aurelia nods, shivering in fear. Voldemort was a monster and even if she had agreed with the whole 'Purebloods above All! Down with the Muggles!' thing he had promoted, she would still think this. He killed his _own_ children.

"He killed them all."

"What? Why?"

Aurelia frowns. Voldemort may have been the darkest wizard of all time but no one expected him to kill his _own_ bloody children.

She's known about his children for years, Cressida, Sarah, Tybalt, and the three that had never been named. Tybalt had struck a chord in her and he always will. It's not like the guy had to be father of the year. He didn't have to go and kill the baby in his mother's arms as she pleaded with him not to kill wee Tybalt. There's a reason he killed Tybalt, a reason he killed _all_ his children. A reason Aurelia can't understand even years later.

The reason is horrifying and Aurelia's surprised she's yet to burst into tears just thinking about it.

"You're familiar with Greek Mythology?" Aurelia asks and to her surprise, Neville nods his head quickly.

"Yeah, my gran's got a lot of books about it — I think they belong to my dad or maybe my mum — what's that got to do with, well . . . _That_?"

"Kronos . . . Y'know the Titan who —"

Neville's nose crinkled in disgust "Yeah, didn't he eat h —"

"Yes! But, no! It's not what you're thinking . . . He didn't eat them . . . He's like a vegetarian Kronos."

Neville opens his mouth to say something but promptly shuts it, reminding himself that this isn't the weirdest thing he's heard her say.

"He killed them for the same reason Kronos ate his children. Voldemort was afraid that they'd be more powerful than him, he was afraid they'd overthrow him. He killed five of them before they were even born, Tybalt was the only one who got to see the sun. He got to learn his mother's warm embrace, he got to live until his father met him and then there was a green light and Tybalt was no more. Do you know how monstrous that is. Voldemort killed his first-born son in his wife's arms!"

"You-Know-Who had a wife!" Neville whispers loudly in disbelief — _and yet, you can't even tell a girl you like her_!

Aurelia laughs mirthlessly "Their marriage was worse than Aunt Bellatrix and Uncle Rodolphus' which is saying something because their marriage is a disaster, Neville, the worst disaster you can ever imagine. I highly doubt they were in love, the marriage was probably a way for Voldemort to claim Esrom, she was useful to him she was a famed seer. Esrom Trelawney, or as most people know her, Riddle. She was the ex-Divinations professor here. She's dead too, Voldemort killed her shortly before he died or he had her killed. I'm not sure which is true. You know, Tybalt would've been older than my aunts, if he was alive. He didn't deserve to die."

"Merlin." Neville breathes out, "How do you know all that?"

"Eavesdropping." Aurelia replies. "When our parents booted us out of the room to have their gossip time, Draco and his friends would have me sneak into the room to spy on them because I was the least likely to be caught or noticed."

"Oh."

"Did you know, Elliot almost had a half-sister. It might've been his full sister but they never really got to know . . . Callisto Burke — Ellie's biological mum, had been the youngest Death-Eater, she was still in Hogwarts when she got the Dark Mark, in her sixth year and she was still in Hogwarts when she became pregnant the first time. There had been the possibility that it could've been Voldemort's but it was more than likely Regulus' child, she was betrothed to him. However, Voldemort wasn't going to take that chance and five-months in the pregnancy he killed the child. It destroyed Callisto, she had gotten so attached to the unborn child, she had found out it was going to be a girl and she picked out a name — Cressida Calypso, and she was so happy. She was thriving. Her and Regulus were going to be a happy family and then Voldemort tore it all away from her because there was a chance she was his."

Neville stared at Aurelia horrified.

Aurelia felt tears slipping down her cheeks, it wasn't fair. Because of this, Callisto was hardly fit to raise Elliot, she was still reeling from the loss of Cressida when Elliot came along.

"She was never the same after he got rid of Cressida. She went bonkers, she became paranoid but refused to stray from Voldemort's side. When Elliot came around, she got worse. Callisto worried that he'd kill Elliot even though there was no chance that he was Voldemort's kid. So she tried to give him the Dark-Mark to prove her loyalty to Voldemort and kinda protect Ellie in a very twisted way. She never got to finish it though because . . . Because well, Aunt Bellatrix stopped her and accidentally got Callisto captured by the ministry by doing so."

Aurelia wipes angry tears from her face, _how could someone kill their own children_? She looks at Tybalt's name and an overwhelming sadness grows inside her.

She remembers hiding behind the curtains in her parents' sitting room, listening to the gossip to tell her friends about later. She remember that it was the anniversary of Tybalt's death, Mrs. Parkinson had been recounting the tale very dramatically and woefully and by the end of it, Aurelia had burst into fearful hysterics, alerting the adults she had been in the room the entire time. She remembers running to her father and clinging to him as she begged him not to kill her if she got better at magic than he was. He hadn't even been mad that she had eavesdropped.

Aurelia sniffles "It's not fair — they still had room to grow, they never got a chance — they could've turned out good."

Neville looks at her surprised. She had been more emotional since being entered in the Triwizard Tournament but he couldn't understand why she's crying over You-Know-Who's children — _that's harsh_. Neville pauses, starting to understand why it upsets Aurelia, they were just children. Children who never got a chance to grow. It is rather unfair.

"Are you going to be alright?"

"I'm hungry." Aurelia states, desperate to change the subject.

Neville nods "Alright, let's get some lun — lunch. We can do this some other time and, uh, maybe avoid this book in the future."

* * *

Hours latter a bad feeling settles in the pit of her stomach but this time it's not the thought of dead babies that causes it; it's a letter from her Aunt Lyra. A letter requesting to meet her at her office before dinner.

She sent a similar letter to Elliot, the two walk to her office together. Even with Elliot's company, her nerves aren't soothed because unlike her, Lyra actually treats Elliot decently. Lyra's still kind of bitch to him — but then again, being a bitch is in Lyra's nature. She only likes Elliot because she's Regulus' son.

"What do you think she wants from us?" Aurelia wonders, glancing at Elliot who's trying hard to control his frizzy, black curls.

"She probably finally decided to kill you and she invited me along to help hide your body." Elliot replies, pulling his hair into a very messy bun that looks more like a painful knot than anything.

Aurelia gives him a dirty look but jokes along with him as she retorts: "Yes, she invited you along to help hide my body that she could easily burn to a crisp or turn into an unsuspecting object with a flick of her wand."

Elliot laughs "She'd definitely burn your body, that sounds more dramatic. More like Lyra."

Few words are exchanged with her aunt as the bitter blonde hands her three letters and a rectangular package. Two of the letters are from Mae and Remus — still, Aurelia doesn't understand why, he's involved. Then she hands Elliot a letter, she tries to speak with Elliot but he drops the conversation quickly for Aurelia's sake and then the two are headed down to the Great Hall for dinner.

"Salazar's socks!" Elliot snickers, "Ma — Bellatrix would've kicked her bloody ass if she saw Lyra looking at me like that."

"Did you just call Bellatrix 'ma'?" Aurelia asks, it's not the first time she's heard Elliot call her that.

Elliot nods, blushing as he frowns "Yeah, haven't heard me do that in awhile, huh?"

It had been years since she had heard Elliot call her aunt that, he used to do it all the time when he was younger. The first time she had met Elliot, he had convinced her and Draco that he was Bellatrix's son. He had seen a few of her pictures in Malfoy manor and had declared her his 'ma'. Her and Draco had been thrilled by this, it had meant that they had a cousin they both could play with.

When wee Elliot had left that afternoon, her mum had explained to them that Elliot was probably a Muggle that Bellatrix had taken him from some Muggle family she had dealt with during the first Wizarding War since they could no longer care for him. In other words, their mum had tried to explain to them their aunt had brutally murdered a Muggle couple and surprisingly couldn't bring herself to murder their infant son so she took him and gave him to Mae without actually saying their aunt had brutally murdered people.

Then Elliot got a little older and his hair grew out and their parents began to whisper that he might be Regulus and Callisto's son. Her parents didn't know for sure as Callisto had kept Elliot to herself, Regulus, and Bellatrix, still traumatised from her previous one.

"I miss her — I miss them. Callisto wasn't a bad mother before the mark but she didn't — couldn't love me wholly. She couldn't love me like they did. They gave me attention, they gave me the care Callisto couldn't give me. Mum and Ma — when she was around — they took great care of me, they made sure I was talked to, they made sure I was well-fed, they made sure I was warm. They could do that consistently unlike Callisto." Elliot explains, sounding forlorn.

"Did Bellatrix love Mae?!" Aurelia bursts out, a sudden urge to know if her theory is — was true.

Elliot grins slightly "Took you long enough! I know Mae didn't exactly tell you but she wasn't subtle about it either — have you seen her room? It's like eighty percent Bellatrix pictures, paintings, and drawing. She was waiting for you to figure it out, she didn't want to tell you as she doesn't like talking about it. But, it wasn't a secret that was kept from you. Of course, no one knows about it besides me, and there's a few other people that know but I'm not sure who. All I know is that Molly can't know."

"That's so weird, I always thought it was odd that —"

"Don't you mean: _strange_?"

"Shut the fuck up, Elias Sirius Burke!"

"Don't fucking call me, Elias, that's a shit name!" Elliot hisses angrily, his face turns bright red.

"Don't make shitty puns then!" Aurelia hisses right back, "Anyway! I always thought it was weird that Bellatrix gave Mae a bloody castle and I thought maybe Bellatrix loved her but I never that it'd actually be true!"

"You'll be even more surprised to learn Mum loved her back."

Aurelia chokes on her own spit "What? No! Mum — Mae could do so much better than her!"

Elliot laughs "Yes, they loved each other."

Mae loved Bellatrix back? _Well, holy shit, I was not expecting that_!

Her shock turns to confusion rather quickly, if Aunt Bellatrix loved Mae — a _Squib_! — why had she joined the Death-Eaters? It doesn't make sense.

"Well, this has been an exceptional bonding moment but I do believe dinner is calling me, specifically the Yorkshire Pudding so — tootles!" He gives her a rough pat on the back, grinning slyly as he departs.

He leaves her hanging and he knows it; Aurelia bets he's enjoying that.

She rolls her eyes but all she can think is: _holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit_!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Voldemort had children,,, I bet that makes you uncomfortable . . . They're all dead because Voldemort (father of the year, everyone!) is straight up a Vegetarian Kronos,,, Anyway, Voldy's very dead children will play a crucial role in later on in the story. Y'all probably saw Maeve & Bellatrix (Maetrix as I call them bc apparently I CAN create GOOD ship names) coming because I wasn't exactly subtle about it, even Aurelia suspected it,,, however it still got her fucked up! Also in the house we stan Maetrix as Elliot's gay mums! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the chapter, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated! I would also really, really appreciate it if you could let me know what you thought of it!


	19. | XVII: ❝Blue Rules, Potter Drools❞

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neville ❝I saw you hanging out with Noelle yesterday.❞  
> Aurelia: ❝Nev — Neville, it's not what you think!❞  
> Neville: ❝I won't hesitate, bitch.❞

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there, I feel like this chapter is lacking compared to my others chapters so I really hope it's just me and that you enjoy it! I tried my best with it but I feel like it could've been better! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the chapter, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated! I would also really, really appreciate it if you could let me know what you thought of it!

****

**CHAPTER xvii** ** _!_**  
Blue Rules, Potter Drools

* * *

 **REMUS** ' **LETTER WARMS HER HEART** , **HE WANTS** to help her with the Triwizard Tournament. She doesn't understand why but she's thrilled by it nevertheless.

She likes Remus, even misses him despite the fact he's a werewolf — _he wouldn't hurt me, he's nice_! There's something about him that's vaguely familiar, something warm and safe, a feeling she had once felt. Aurelia swears she remembers him though she knows it's not possible, he's just that familiar. Whenever she tries to think of where she might remember him from, her head starts to ache and she feels foggy so she tries not to think too much about it. _It's probably nothing_.

She had told herself the same thing last year when she was first introduced to Remus or rather, Professor Lupin.

So on Saturday she would be seeing him as well as Mae at the Three Broomsticks. Luckily a trip to Hogsmeade falls on that day, meaning she wouldn't need special permission to go see them. That's the last thing she needs at this moment.

Mae's letter had been the same as Remus' albeit a lot less awkward sounding. The third letter had been from the Tonks telling her to be safe and wishing her the best of luck in the tournament. The package is for Ron, it's his Christmas present even though the two aren't on speaking terms.

Ron's more than a wee bit peeved that she and Harry are in the tournament even though they didn't enter themselves and Aurelia thinks he knows that even if he won't show it.

He's jealous and Aurelia can see it plainly, in fact she understands it completely. Although it annoys her that he's acting like she purposely put her name in there. Harry's got it a lot worse, the two were usually attached at the hip and now they're not even speaking whereas Aurelia only talked to Ron on occasion during the school year.

However, this will make giving him his Christmas present rather awkward, their conversation will be bloody awkward if even talks to her at all.

Aurelia sighs annoyedly as she ventures down the corridor. If one more person stares at her —

"Have you seen these, Blue?!" Dennis squeaks out as he approaches her, "Can I call you, Blue? I've heard others call you that — anyways, look!"

He shoves a blue swirling pin in her face "They're kinda neat even though they make fun of Harry."

 _Draco_.

She rolls her eyes, so he's made more pins. Aurelia looks at the pin in the first-year's hand, it's blue and there's a little drawing of Aurelia with the words " ** _BLUE RULES_** " on it then it swirls into an orange colour with a drawing of Harry and the words " ** _POTTER DROOLS_** " appear.

Classic Draco, _at least this pin rhymes_! Even though it's insulting Harry, Aurelia really appreciates this pin, it makes her feel like Draco still cares about her despite the fact she's a traitor. _He still cares_.

She blinks back tears "Are ye goin' to wear it?"

Dennis shakes his head "Nah, they're mean! I just thought I'd show them to you since you were on them, they just started circling around this morning, I bet it's that meanie, Malfoy!"

Aurelia sighs "That meanie is my twin brother — do ye mind if I keep that?"

Dennis frowns but hands it over and she shoves it in the pocket of her jeans.

"Thanks, kid — hey, have you seen Ron anywhere?"

"Yep, I saw him the Great Hall just a while ago, he's playing the magic chess game with someone."

Aurelia gives him a grateful smile "Thanks, kid."

Dennis nods and scampers off to his friends while Aurelia turns on her heels and heads for the Great Hall, clutching the package to her chest. She hopes Ron won't be too stubborn with her.

Ron's seated in the Great Hall, playing and winning a game of Wizard's Chess with someone she doesn't know. By the time she reaches the Gryffindor table, the student had sulked away in defeat, Aurelia takes a seat across from Ron who stares blankly at her.

She smiles awkwardly, palms starting to sweat as she tells him: "Hi, uh, I get yer Christmas present."

Ron's blank expression turns into one of incredulous.

Aurelia laughs lightly though her heart is racing, what if he yells at her?

"I figured you might want to one-up Draco so I bought you an extra pair of dress robes. They're from the same designer that made Draco's dress robes — assuming they still go to the same place. Anyway, I specifically asked him to make these robes better than he made Draco's so I guarantee, you'll look killer. Think of it as karma for him mocking your other dress robes which weren't that bad."

 _They were very bad_.

Ron snorts, his face going slightly pink.

"They weren't great but trust me when I say they could've been a lot worse. If it counts for anythin' I really think you could pull off those dress robes."

Ron raises an eyebrow.

"Honest. They'd give ye a very royal chic look, especially with that hair and ye skin tone. Ye'd look killer in them, change the texture of the dress robes with some magic, whiten the puffy sleeves and bit and you'd pull it off well. Yer face is nice enough to allow you to."

Ron looks at her suspiciously "What do you really want?"

"What do you mean?" Aurelia asks innocently.

"I've been ignoring you and you come over here and compliment me of all things? What do you want?"

Aurelia grins "I want to give ye yer Christmas present, Ronald. Is that a crime now?"

She slides the package over to him "Ye don't have to wear it, I just thought ye might like to have another choice. It's really no big deal, Ron, it's a Christmas present. No, I don't feel sorry for ye — shit, sorry my Legilimency! I need to get it under control, sorry! Look, I didn't buy ye these robes because I felt sorry for ye, I bought them because I thought ye would like them, I bought them because I thought ye'd look great in the colour, and most importantly, I thought ye'd really enjoy seeing that smug grin wiped off me brother's face when ye come in lookin' like a killer king wearin' these robes!"

Ron's skeptical look softens slightly.

"I know ye find people buyin' ye things to be embarrassin' but ye shouldn't be embarrassed or at least not try not too when they come from me — I shouldn't tell you how to feel, I'm sorry. I'm doin' this because I want too not because I feel bad or because I think ye can't do it. Ye deserves these robes just like yer brothers deserve that thing they want, if I didn't think ye deserved it, I wouldn't have gotten ye these thin's. It's not out of pity or because I think yer poor, I'd of bought ye these dress robes even if ye could've bought yerself a whole shop of them. I wanted to do this, so try not to feel so flustered about it, okay."

Ron frowns looking, guilty "But, I —"

"No, don't apologise. I didn't even realise ye were ignorin' me 'til I heard ye were ignorin' Harry, and I'm not mad at you. I wish ye didn't think we put our names in that fookin' goblet 'cause we didn't but ye probably only think that 'cause yer jealous."

"I'm not jealous."

Aurelia gives him a pointed look "You are jealous. And that's okay. Jealousy is perfectly natural though not the greatest in most cases but I don't think you'll kill either Harry and I in a fit of jealous rage, so we're good. You have every right to be jealous, I get it. Oh, I get it."

She chuckles humourlessly "Do ye know I was constantly jealous of Draco growing up. I could never do anythin' as good as him. In my parents' eyes, he was the golden child even though me name literally means 'the golden one'!"

Aurelia takes a deep breath "I felt so worthless and sometimes I still feel so damned worthless. Nothin' I ever did was good enough for them. I'm sure ye feel similarly. Ye've got five brothers whom ye look up to, all of which have done amazin' thin's and I'm sure you look up to Ginny too because she's Ginny how could you not look up to her — sorry, ye sister's a badass. Not to mention, ye best friends with Harry fookin' Potter. I thought competin' with Draco was hard."

Ron stares at her with a look Aurelia reads as: _how the bloody hell is this supposed to make me feel better_?!

"But, ye know what, Ronald? Those feelin's are bullshit, they're wrong. I'm not sayin' ye shouldn't feel that way or that it's wrong to feel that way . . . I mean wrong as in, they're not true no matter how strongly ye feel they are. Ye're not who ye view yerself as. Yer wonderful, yer amazing, yer so loyal and so brave. At eleven-years-old ye were willin' to sacrifice yer life for Hermione and Harry. Yer an amazin' friend. Yer brilliant too, figurin' out that chess game couldn't have been easy but ye did it. Ye may not see it but ye just as amazing as ye brothers and Harry. Yer important, my life wouldn't be the same with out ye, neither would Harry's — he'd probably dead if it weren't for ye, if we're bein' honest here — or Hermione's, or yer family's."

"Are you crying?"

"I just gave ye a very heartwarmin' speech and all you ask is if I'm cryin' — yes, I'm cryin' ye twat! I've been such a mess recently."

"I — well, er — thank you?"

Aurelia gives him a watery grin, wiping tears from her eyes as she says "Well, I need to go fix me eyeliner. I reckon it's a wee bit smudged — I hope ye like yer present!"

She gets up to go but Ron grabs her wrist and tells her: "Charlie says 'hi'."

Aurelia grins at him despite the dread growing in her stomach "Thank you."

_Fuck! I am going to have to fight a fucking dragon!_

* * *

Aurelia writes _a lot_ , she writes stories, poems, essays, anything really and she writes fast. Her dorm mates are well accustomed to this fact but even they're surprised when Aurelia spends all of Friday night and all of Saturday morning writing pages upon pages of something.

When it comes time for their Hogsmeade trip, Aurelia gently tucks the pages into her bag.

Hannah catches sight of the paper and snorts: "Merlin, please tell me you didn't write yourself a will?!"

Aurelia looks up at her and Hannah's laughter dies away instantly, Aurelia looks like a wounded puppy.

"Come now, Blue, the tournament won't be that bad."

 _Says you_! Aurelia thinks, _I've got to fight a bloody dragon — possibly dragons! It's going to be a disaster!_

Her spell should work, but it's not a guarantee and the leaves her feeling rather nervous. She had been working on the spell for a few years now and she had tested it on a few House-Elves and Elliot and the spell had worked wonderfully. The problem is that House-Elves and Elliot are tiny compared to dragons and the spell may not be as potent on them as it had been on Mimsie or Elliot. Her life depends on this spell working the way she hopes it will.

Aurelia swallows thickly, hoisting the strap of her bag over the shoulder "It's best to be prepared."

"Oh, you're such a drama queen! You'll be just fine!" Hannah says, smiling fondly at Aurelia who gives her a small smile in return.

She doesn't feel like she'll be just fine but Aurelia takes a deep breath and reminds herself that she gets to see Mae soon and Remus as well. Aurelia grins at that thought, she misses Mae.

The ride to Hogsmeade seems to drag on a lot longer than usual and despite the fact Aurelia is surrounded by her friends she feels lonely. It's not an unusual feeling as of late but it's a feeling she thinks she shouldn't feel in this moment.

Her friends are talking about their plans for the Hogsmeade trip, plans Aurelia can't be apart of as she's going to meet up with Mae and Remus and they know that. Aurelia frowns, slouching in her seat.

Neville notices her sad demeanour and frowns as well. Reaching over and grabbing her hand, he wishes she wasn't so sad all the time. She's been really sad since she had been entered in the tournament. It's not fair, he thinks, neither she or Harry should've been forced to compete.

Finally the carriage comes to a stop in Hogsmeade and the group of friends split up, Aurelia heading to the Three Broomsticks and the others heading to Honeydukes.

Someone shoves past her just as she was about to enter the pub, Aurelia goes to call them out but falls short upon seeing who it is. Skeeter. Aurelia keeps quiet, hoping that Skeeter doesn't see her.

The Three Broomsticks is packed tighter and at the very back, Remus sits with Mae; Remus waves her over, a fond smile on his scarred face.

"Rory!" He greets her happily, she gives him a confused look in return.

"Oh, sorry . . . It's a nickname Padfoot came up for you when you were a little baby. He couldn't for the life of him, pronounce your name right. So, he called you Rory and it stuck." Remus says nervously, "I can't count how many times I almost called you that last year. Does that . . . Bother you?"

Aurelia shakes her head "No, it's just . . . How do you get 'Rory' from Aurelia?"

Remus grins, eyes cloud with nostalgia "Well . . . Heh, Padfoot, he thought your name was pronounced Ah-Roar-Reelah."

Aurelia snickers, taking a seat that Remus offers her.

"No one had the heart to correct him." Remus says.

"Which is probably why Trix was the one who corrected him." Mae mutters earning a snort from Remus.

Aurelia looks at Mae, she looks like she hasn't slept in days.

"Wee moon." Mae greets Aurelia, giving her a weak smile.

"Mae . . ." _do I bring up the whole her being in love with Bellatrix thing_?

"How are ye?"

Her throat constricts and tears burn her eyes — _it was only a question, why are you crying_?!

Aurelia manages a nod, Mae reaches across the table and grabs Aurelia's cold hands "I'm so, so sorry, wee moon, I — we tried to get ye out but they wouldn't hear it. I'm truly sorry."

"It's okay." Aurelia mumbles.

Mae pats her hands "Would ye like somethin' to drink? To eat?"

"A Butterbeer would be nice, if that's okay?"

Mae's smile brightens "O' course! I'll be right back — do ye want anythin' Remus?"

Remus shakes his head and Mae heads up to the counter to purchase the beverage.

Aurelia looks at Remus quizzically "Why are you here?"

"Do . . . Do you not want me here? I figured — Professor Sprout figured it'd be good for you. She assumed you were fond of me as I am of you. Professor Sprout I'd be good . . . Moral support. But, I can leave if you want."

Aurelia shakes her head quickly "No — I — I didn't mean it like that! I want you to stay, I just don't understand why you'd want to be here."

"Because I do, Rory, I care about you."

Aurelia blinks "But, why?"

Remus looks at her incredulously — _sweet Merlin, child, just accept my affection_!

Aurelia flinches, as she catches a snippet of Remus' thought. She's becoming more aware of her Legilimency abilities and she hates it. Aurelia really needs to get it in check even if that means asking Snape for help.

"You alright, Rory?"

Aurelia nods "Yeah, it's just my Legilimency's gotten more noticeable since, well, since the Gwen thing."

Remus grows pale as he stammers: "Legil — Legilimency?"

Aurelia looks away shamefully "Sorry, I don't mean too. I never mean too. I don't go looking into people's mind, the thoughts just jump out at me. I — I'm really sorry."

"Don't apologise, I'm not made . . . I'm just surprised . . . Well, have you asked Lyra for help. I know she's good with Legilimency and Occlumency, even during school she was good at it. She could help you."

Aurelia laughs loudly, snorting "Lyra'd never help me!"

Remus frowns "I could ask her, I was always her favourite — she told me herself, I swear I'm not being full of myself here, Rory. I'm sure she'd help if I asked."

She shakes her head "No, I don't want Lyra's help. I appreciate the offer, I really do but I'd much rather not learn from her. I'll have to ask Snape, he's no better but at least I can trust he won't fuck me over like Lyra might. He was supposed to be our teacher, my brother and I, when we were little but neither of us were interested in learning the skill."

Remus nods although he still looks concerned "Right, of course."

Mae returns with a Butterbeer and Firewhisky, she hands the Butterbeer to Aurelia and sits down. Mae cracks open her Firewhisky and takes a large swig of it.

"What did they tell ye about the first task?" Mae asks.

"Nothin'." Aurelia replies, taking a sip of her Butterbeer."

"Why am I not surprised." Mae mutters, rolling her eyes.

"It's dragons." Aurelia says bluntly, "I figured it out because of Ginny, she mentioned that Bill and Charlie would be around this year so I assumed that they must've had something to do with the tasks. Thanks to Ron I was able to figure out that the first task is definitely dragons and — I have to tell Fleur Delacour! It's only fair, I've told Viktor and I told Cedric. I'm sure Ron's told Harry even if they're not speaking, Ron's not that petty . . . I have to fight a dragon!"

Remus pales again and inhales sharply.

"Oh, mac na galla." Mae swears in Gaelic.

"I've got a plan don't worry. I'm not scared of the first task, it's the other tasks that scare me." Aurelia says, she reaches for her bag but steels herself from doing so. They might laugh at her or call her dramatic for this, so she leaves the unofficial will she wrote in her bag, "The first task is supposed to be the easiest and if it's going to be dragons just imagine how hard the other task'll be."

"We'll be at the first task." Mae tells her, "Remus and I'll be there. We won't be able to talk to ye beforehand or afterwards. But, we'll be in the stands, cheerin' ye on."

Aurelia smiles gratefully.

"How are you're classes going?" Remus queries, "Are they teaching anything that you can use in the tournament."

Aurelia blushes as she admits "I haven't been payin' attention . . . It's been so hard, I've got so much on my mind . . . I've been so tired — I'm not failin' though, I promise!"

Mae frowns, something flashing in her green eyes "Perhaps during Christmas holidays I shall see if I can take ye somewhere to get ye checked out —"

"Checked out?" Aurelia echoes, raising an eyebrow, "Checked out for what? There's nothing wrong with me."

"For Depression, wee moon. I think ye might have it, it does run in yer family. Ye've never shown signs of it before so I didn't want to say anythin' but I think ye might have it. It'll require Muggle treatment, we don't really have anythin' for Depression, yer mum and aunts never got treatment for it. Well, Andromeda did eventually."

"Depression? Is . . . Is that bad?"

"No, wee moon. Well, not exactly, it's not the-look-on-yer-face-bad but it can be bad. Ye might not have it, I just they way yer talkin' it got me worried. I just want to get ye checked when I can."

Aurelia wonders if this Depression thing has anything to do with those little moments she has.

Aurelia takes another drink, she wonders if she should be worried, Mae looks worried but not too worried. Perhaps it's nothing. Remus and Mae start laughing at something Mae had said, to Aurelia they look like really good friends.

"I didn't know you and Remus knew each other." Aurelia points out.

Mae and Remus share a look of some kind — _they're hiding something from me_.

"We've met a few times here and there. Mostly during Hogsmeade trips, Sirius wasn't given any money for the trips so Trix would go and give him some money —"

"I thought Aunt Bella hate —"

"Oh, she pretty much did but the money was, well, a reward for him keeping her secret — _me_. So, until he was officially disowned would do little nice things for Sirius because he knew about us. I'm not sure if she did it because she was thankful for his secrecy or because she didn't want him to tell but that's how Remus and I know each other."

Aurelia blinks, _well since she brought it up_!

"Did ye really love her?" Aurelia asks.

Mae frowns "Would ye think any less o' me, wee moon?"

"Aurelia shakes her head quickly "No, mum! I'd never think bad of you!"

Mae gives her a weak smiles then sniffles and nods "I really did, Aurelia, I love—d her wit' my whole heart."

Mae reaches across the table and smooths Aurelia's curls "I love ye more, wee moon. Ye an' Elliot, I love ye two so much, yer my whole world, my everythin'."

Aurelia smiles, feeling a surge of respect and love for the redhead "I love ye too, mum."

A moment passes, Remus asks: "Mae tells me you're real excited for the Yule Ball . . . Have you picked out your dress yet?"

Aurelia's eyes light up and she begins discussing just how thrilled she is for the Yule Ball.

* * *

With an hour or two to spare for the Hogsmeade thrip, Aurelia decides to go find her friends since Mae and Remus had left earlier than she had expected.

Their visit had significantly cheered her up, but she can still feel that numb feeling just below the surface. It seems to her that she can't shake this numbness no matter what, she just got to see her mum and her favourite professor, she should be happier. But, she's not and that scares her, she still somehow feels lonely.

"Aurelia!" A German accent calls out and seconds later, hands are wrapped around her forearm in a vice-like grip.

Aurelia jumps, her heart starts to race — _it's just Noelle! It's okay, calm down_!

"Noelle! How are you?"

"I'm great! And 'ou must be fantastic! Competing in the tournament, 'ow amazing is that?!"

Aurelia plasters a fake smile on her face as she weakly says: "Yeah . . . Exciting."

"'Ou are not happy. 'Ou should be. The goblet thought you ver vorthy." Noelle says bitterly.

Aurelia frowns "Well, I don't want to be worthy for once in my life I don't want it. I don't want to be in it. Now, if you'll please excuse me I'm going to meet my friends. I'll see ye around, Noelle."

Noelle lets go of her forearm and quickly snakes her arm around Aurelia's shoulder. At this action, Aurelia feels all her anger and sadness melt away to bubbly happiness. Her face grows hot and she inhales sharply, clearly surprised by the Noelle's move.

"Aw!" Noelle moans, pouting, "Do you not vant to spend time vith me, Aurelia?"

Yes! — Aurelia stammers "Y — yes, of — of course I want t — to hang out with you!"

Noelle grins "Vonderful! So, Aurelia, do you want to play twenty-one questions.

"Sure!" Aurelia complies despite not knowing how to play the game.

"Alright. Hm, vhat is your favourite colour? Mine is red."

"Gold! Like golden yellow not shimmering gold though shimmering gold is nice." Aurelia answers.

There's a long pause, a very awkward pause than Noelle giggles "You're supposed to ask a question in return, zilly girl."

"Oh! Right! Your favourite kind of chocolate? I love all kinds but milk chocolate is my favourite — preferably Hershey's Kisses!"

"I like dark chocolate best. Favourite kind of animal? Mine's a jaguar." Noelle replies as they pass Honeydukes.

"Hmm, I can't choose between a cat or a fox. I have a cat, I named him Freddie Purrcury but I usually just call him Freddie. Do you have any pets?"

"Nah. Vorst fears? Mine are failure. Mice and death."

"Uh, werewolves, death, going insane, snakes specifically Garter snakes —"

Noelle laughs loudly "Aren't thoze ze leazt deadly snakes on Earth?"

Aurelia shrugs "I know shit about snakes other than the names of some. I found the snake in my gardens when I was just a wee thing and I thought it was so cute. It thought I was so biteable. I was so shocked that I completely blanked, don't remember what happened after it but look at the scar — Sometimes when I get bored I turn it into a little smiley face."

"Now, that's a cute scar!" Noelle says, eyes drifting from Aurelia's finger to her cheek.

Aurelia's blissfully unaware of this as she continues: " — water, and Voldemort. Fav —"

"You speak his name!" Noelle whispers angrily, eyes flashing dangerously.

Aurelia blinks, surprised by her reaction "Sorry, it's just . . . You-Know-Who is such a mouthful for me and I'm not sure if his name's Tim or Tom so Voldemort is the easiest for me to say. I know I shouldn't say it but I can't help it."

"Ve are not allowed to say it at Durmstrang, ve get in lots of trouble if ve do."

"Un — understandable. Uh, favourite ice-cream? Mine's Chocolate Chip and Cookie Dough."

"Strawberry . . . Vood 'ou like to be my girlfriend?"

Aurelia feels faint but not in a bad way, she feels all warm and fuzzy — _say yes_! — and her face must be brighter than a Weasley's hair. — _say yes! Say yes_! — She likes Noelle well enough and apparently Noelle feels the same — _SAY YES_! — but Neville, I think I like him more — _SAY_ _YES! SAY YES_! — don't I like him more, I do know him better — _SAY_ —

"Yes." Aurelia breathes out grinning brightly.

Things get blurry. Aurelia's excited, someone actually fancies her! Noelle leans down and kiss her cheek but what about what others will think? What about Neville? _Stop caring_.

Wait.

Something feels wrong?

 _Nothing's wrong_ , Aurelia feels great, it's just moving really fast but that's okay. It's not like their relationship would even last, Noelle's leaving at the end of the year — _nothing's wrong_.

A very loud cough interrupts them.

"I thought you were supposed to be meeting your mum and Remus." Seamus calls out.

Aurelia looks over her shoulder, turning red as she wonders how much they had seen.

"I w — was."

Seamus and Dean raise their eyebrows in disbelief, Seamus crosses his arms over his chest and in the middle of the two stands Neville, a heartbroken, disappointed look on his face.

Aurelia's heart clenches painfully. He looks so sad, why does he look so sad?

"Then why — why are you hang — hanging out with Noelle?" Neville stammers, his lower lip quivering, "You didn't need to lie ab — about spending time wi — with her. I — I un — understand."

"I didn't —"

Noelle smiles sweetly "Vell, I don't zee 'ow that's any of your business — Aurelia, we don't ve go find somewhere romantic for our date."

"Wait, I —"

But, Noelle's dragging her away from her friends before Aurelia can get her explanation out.

"Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop, sounds romantic enough, huh, Aurelia?"

Aurelia nods numbly, glancing over shoulder at her friends. Oh, Merlin, she hopes they're not too angry at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I tried rewriting this chapter but uh it still didn't turn out the way I wanted it to BUT it's much better than the original and I'm semi-satisfied with it, enough that I am willing to post it and HOPE to the greater giving fuck of the universe that y'all won't find it as bad as I do. A few notes about this chapter:
> 
> (1) Aurelia and Noelle's relationship is supposed to come out of the blue (yes that's a pun) and I know they don't know each that well but they're young and very obviously their relationship is not going to last, they are both aware of that, Noelle's leaving at the end of the year, Aurelia's not sure if she like-likes Noelle enough. Their relationship is supposed to feel rushed!
> 
> (2) Some of y'all will probably be angry that Aurelia's not dating Neville but Make Them Gold is more focused on their friendship and it will always be about their friendship, the most important thing to Aurelia is their friendship. She loves Neville platonically and romantically and whether or not they end up together (spoiler alert they do, I promise,,, eventually) Aurelia would rather have their friendship than not have Neville at all.
> 
> (3) In my mind, I don't really see the Wizarding World focusing too much on Mental Illnesses for the main reason that their mental, they're in your brain, I feel like they'd be too nervous to use magic on their brains so they just sweep it aside. Which is why I believe they never did anything to help the Longbottoms, Lockhart, and Ariana. I like to think the Muggle world is slightly more advanced when it comes to treating Mental Illnesses.
> 
> Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated! I would also really, really appreciate it if you could let me know what you thought of it!


	20. | XVIII: ❝Dragon Tales❞

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neville: ❝Is it morally okay to pray that your crush's relationship doesn't work out?❞

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey sorry it took so long to get this chapter to you but it's been a hard month for me. It's still pretty hard and I'll try my best to be quicker with the next chapter. Good news, the next chapter is halfway done as I post this! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the chapter, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated! I would also really, really appreciate it if you could let me know what you thought of it!

****

**CHAPTER xviii** ** _!_**  
Dragon Tales

* * *

 **NEVILLE CAN'T STAY MAD AT AURELIA**. **SEAMUS** and Dean, however, can. It's been a whole day since he last spoke to Aurelia, mostly due to the fact Seamus refused to let Neville say a word to her but somewhat because Aurelia had spent most of Sunday with Noelle.

He's upset that Aurelia decided to date Noelle but ignoring her like Seamus thinks he should do just sounds dumb. He doesn't want to lose Aurelia because of this even if he doesn't understand why she'd want to date Noelle, he doesn't want her to date the Durmstrang girl for many reasons.

There's no way around it: he's _jealous_. Completely, utterly, miserably jealous of Noelle. It's not fair, he's known Aurelia longer. He's not the one leaving at the end of the year. Noelle, in his mind, doesn't deserve Aurelia.

Neville grumbles angrily as he does up his tie. _Maybe you should've asked Ari out sooner, you gutless egg — Merlin, you even sound like Ari!_

 _It's not fair_ , Neville's had a crush on her since second year, he only realised in third year that it was a crush when he got a paper cut and she had given him a 'Scooby Doo' band-aid and kissed it better. He's been, as Seamus says, whipped ever since.

Noelle probably doesn't even really like Aurelia. Noelle doesn't know Aurelia, she doesn't — _why are you bothering to go over this when you know you're not going to say anything about it._ Neville scowls at his reflection, he's not going to say anything, even if he wasn't a total coward he still wouldn't say a word to Aurelia, this is what she wants. She's happy being with Noelle — she smiled so prettily when Noelle had asked her out, _maybe one day she'll smile at me like that if I ever get the guts to ask her out._

 _At least she's happy_ , Neville tells himself, she's his best friend who he'd much rather see happy than have her all to himself. She deserves to be happy.

If she's happy, he's happy. Only, he's a little sad that she's not dating him — _oh, quit moping, Neville!_

Neville becomes aware that Seamus is instructing him not to talk to Ari today, the Irish boy pokes his arm multiple times trying to get his attention.

"You know what to do, right? Hey, Nev?"

Neville rolls his eyes "Yeah, but it's a stupid idea and I'm not going to do it."

 _Ari would be proud of that response_! Neville praises himself.

Seamus sighs exasperatedly "But —"

Neville shakes his head "No. It — It's not fair nor is it right for me to — to ignore her just because she's got a girlfriend."

"But, it is! She almost kisses you and then goes off and dates a stranger like some kind of slag!" Seamus exclaims.

Dean looks between Seamus and Neville, the look on Neville's face is a surprising one.

"Don't. Call. Her. That." Neville grits out.

Seamus glances at Dean, wondering if he should take Neville seriously. Seamus nods his head slowly while Dean suppresses a snicker.

"She is not a slag! She was just try — trying to kiss my cheek, it was dark — this is — is why I did — didn't want to tell you about that."

Seamus gives Neville a look and this time Dean can't hold back his snickers.

"Then why," Seamus begins dramatically, "Did ya run into our dorm yellin' " _ARIALMOSTKISSEDME_!' huh, Lover Boy?"

Neville scowls, blushing "What — whatever. I — I'm not go — going to ignore her. Th — that's a stupid idea. Ari's got every right to kiss or — or date whoever she likes and as her — her best friend I should be sup — supportive of that." he says firmly, even though he feels the exact opposite of what he just said.

Both Dean and Seamus laugh in disbelief, Neville sighs as he leaves the dorm which causes the other two to laugh louder. Down in the common room, the few straggling students are reading the Daily Prophet but when Neville stumbles on the last few steps, they look up at him.

They keep staring at him even after he composes himself, leaving him to wonder if he put his shirt on backwards again.

"Wh — what?" He questions nervously, feeling small.

One second-year moves forward and hands him the newspaper. He scans through it, the headline gives his heart a start and makes his mouth run dry. The first paragraph practically shoots his nerves.

"Oh no!"

* * *

Aurelia wants to kills Rita Skeeter, she doesn't think she's ever wanted to kill someone before — not _this_ bad at least.

Half the common room had steered clear of her this morning — _so much for loyalty! Those fuckers!_

The worst part of the article is the fact Rita Skeeter had the audacity to bad-mouth Remus, to insinuate that he was the one who 'bit' her.

_How dare she?!_

Aurelia wants revenge like she's never wanted revenge before. She'll have to have a little chat with Elliot and the twins later.

How dare Skeeter have a go at Remus like that. Aurelia is bloody pissed that Skeeter wrote an article trying to convince everyone that she's a werewolf but the fact Skeeter brought Remus into this pisses her off even more.

Nat sits across from her folding any copies of the newspaper that she can get her hands on into little origami dogs. Beside her sits Olivia who huffs, an annoyed expression on her face as she rolls her eyes.

Olivia hands her copy of the Daily Prophet to Nat, saying "That's a load of crap! Who does this woman even think she is?!"

Aurelia wipes away angry tears as she internally curses Skeeter out.

"Maybe if we get Grease Lightning to breathe too loudly she'll write an article about him and everyone will forget this mess." Olivia suggests sarcastically.

Aurelia laughs weakly "May — maybe."

"Anywho — whoever believes this article is a mouldy Niffler!" Olivia declares.

Aurelia and Nat share a look, holding back snickers.

"Liv, do you even know what a Niffler is?" Nat questions, organising her army of origami dogs.

"Nope." Olivia replies.

Nat laughs, shaking her head.

"Well, there must be a lot of mouldy Nifflers 'round here because almost everyone seems to believe this article." Aurelia mumbles.

Crabbe and Warrington had convinced the first-year Slytherins that the article is true which had resulted in one of them crying in fear. Millicent Bulstrode had followed her down a corridor howling after her, which had left Aurelia very unnerved. One second-year Gryffindor had even called her a monster.

"The first task is tomorrow." Nat points out, moving on to fold some napkins.

"Don't remind me." Aurelia grumbles, "Where's Neville? Have ye seen him come in yet?"

"Nah, are you fighting or something?" Olivia wonders, "I didn't see you hanging out with him at all yesterday? In fact you were with that Noelle girl the whole time, practically attached at the hip."

Aurelia tries to hide her blush but Olivia sees it before she can, the latter grins slyly.

"Oh my God! What is going on with you and that girl — were you on a date —"

"Sod off, no I wasn't! And, for yer information, Liv, I wasn't with Noelle all day, I talked to Fleur Dealcour for at least an hour!" Aurelia rebuts.

Olivia rolls her eyes, but Nat looks up with a dreamy gaze on her face "You talked to Fleur Delacour? Are you friends? Ooh, I want to be her friend!"

"I guess we're friends, I told her about the first task yesterday and she was really grateful about it. She's actually pretty nice." Aurelia says, watching slightly amused as Nat fawns over the French girl she barely knows.

"I heard from Seamus that you're dating Noelle, he was pretty pissed about it." Olivia says.

Aurelia inwardly panics, _why was Seamus mad_? He can't be mad because she likes girls, _can he_? After all he likes Dean, he can't judge her for that. He can't, can he?

"I said 'sod off'. I don't want to discuss Noelle with you and no. We ain't datin'." Aurelia asks, her Scottish accent getting thick with fear.

"I don't think they're dating, Aurelia wouldn't date someone she barely knows." Nat remarks.

Aurelia stands up "Sod off! Stop actin' like a bunch o' fuds!"

Olivia gasps, pretending to be hurt by the insult "You wound me, Blue, truly and deeply wound me."

Aurelia wasn't having any of it, she's more scared than she is angry, and she does what she does best, she runs away from the problem.

Leaving, the Great Hall, Aurelia starts looking for Neville though she should probably be looking for Noelle. Her girlfriend. But, all she can concern herself with besides the overwhelming fear of people actually knowing that she likes girls, is finding Neville.

Aurelia doesn't want anyone to be able to put a label on her, she doesn't want be to know there's truth to their judgement. She supposes, at this point, she doesn't care if anyone assumes she's bisexual. They can't really judge her if they just assume. They can't.

Which is why, Aurelia had asked Noelle not to tell anyone they're dating. It's supposed to be a secret relationship, she just didn't want to go around telling other people they're actually dating. They can act like the couple they are but when or if anyone asks, they're only friends. Which, Aurelia realises, probably sounds stupid but it makes her feel better. Safer.

 _Why have I said yes_? Aurelia wonders but quickly shakes her head — _you like Noelle, she's pretty and she's nice. It'll be a nice little fling. Possibly more if things go well_ —

❝ _My friend_!❞ Fleur calls out in French, distracting Aurelia from her thoughts.

The blonde is approaching her, wearing a pretty grin on her pretty face. Aurelia had run into Fleur yesterday when hanging out with Noelle, which had been a perfect time for Aurelia to warn her about the first task and Fleur had deeply appreciated it.

❝ _Oh, Fleur! Uh, Hello . . . Look, if this is about the article, it's not true_.❞ Aurelia says in French, hoping that she said it correctly. It had been years since Aurelia had to speak French, so she reckons she's a bit foggy.

❝ _No, that's not what I want to talk about_.❞ Fleur says, ❝ _You're very right! It is dragons, Madam Maxime told me she saw them, there's one for each of us, a Welsh Green, Swedish Snout, Horntail, and a Hadrian Black._ ❞

❝ _Hebridean Black_!❞ Aurelia corrects, ❝ _Did she mention which dragon has been assigned to who_?❞

Fleur shakes her head.

❝ _Merde_!❞ Aurelia swears.

❝ _I don't think it matters, they must just be giving us the dragons randomly — oh, by the way your girlfriend is looking for you!_ ❞

❝ _Great just — wait, what? What did you just say?_ ❞

❝ _This Durmstrang girl, said she was looking for her girlfriend — you_.❞

Aurelia freezes, she had told Noelle not to tell anyone that they were specifically dating. She didn't want anyone to know outside of Seamus, Dean, and Neville, who had seen it happen. Noelle had been mad at first, saying she didn't want to have a secret relationship, Aurelia had promised her it wouldn't be secret. They could hold hands, hug, and kiss each other's cheek, and all the other cute shit couples do just as long as no one is told that they're dating. Noelle had told her she understood, why was she going around and doing the exact opposite of what Aurelia had asked of her?

It had been so simple, to Aurelia at least, she didn't want anyone to know that she liked girls. _God_ , she's terrified. What if people are ashamed of her, liking girls has always been taboo in her family. Aurelia, herself, still hasn't completely accepted she likes girls. She's been more accepting of it these past few months but she's still not ready for everyone to know.

 _Why did you say yes then_? Her head hurts, _if you're so damned afraid, why did you say yes_?

 _Because you like Noelle_ , Aurelia tells herself, _even if you haven't accepted it yet. You like Noelle, even if that scares you. You like her and you want to be with her_.

❝ _Aurelia, are you alright?_ ❞ Fleur asks.

Aurelia nods ❝ _Yeah — uh, I — I'm fine, that article, it —_ ❞

"Zey are wrong, Aurelia, you are sweet and kind. Do not believe zat article, you are much better zhan zat." Fleur says, smiling kindly at her.

Aurelia smiles gratefully "Thank you, Fleur."

Fleur smiles brightly then kisses both Aurelia's cheeks before skipping off. Aurelia doesn't mean to sound self-centred but she's pretty sure she's Fleur's favourite person at Hogwarts. Fleur seems to like her far more than just an appreciation for Aurelia's willingness to help her with the tournament.

In fact, as far as Aurelia can tell, all the Triwizard champions are her friends. Fleur and Viktor don't see her as competition as she doesn't _really_ care about winning (she guesses it _might_ be nice) and her and Cedric had been really close friends since first year, and Harry's a pretty good friend even if they don't talk that much. But, the four of them like her well enough, if any good comes from the tournament it'd be the fact she gained two new friends.

Aurelia continues down the hall, a group of first years start to whisper as she passes by them, doing nothing to help the rumours, she bares her teeth at them. They gasp loudly in surprise before scampering off down the hallway.

She rolls her eyes before continuing her way to the Gryffindor common room, she's about three floors up when she runs into Neville.

"Oof!" Neville exclaims, falling on his butt.

❝ _Putain_!❞ Aurelia curses, tripping over his feet.

"Poutine?" Neville echoes, helping her up and then looking over her to make sure she hadn't injured herself in the fall. She bruised and scraped easily, so it wouldn't be surprising.

"No — _putain_. French for fuck." Aurelia explains quickly as Neville wipes something off her striped sweater.

"Look, Neville —"

"I know. The article is fake. I know."

"Well, technically, I was with Remus yesterday but not because of the reasons Skeeter says I was."

"I believe you. I'm sorry about sat — Saturday. I — I — I shouldn't have gotten so up — upset with you. It wasn't right, I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, Nev, you've got nothin' to be sorry for." Aurelia assures him, grabbing his hand and squeezing it for good measure, "For the record, I'd never lie to you — er — the scars don't really count."

Neville laughs lightly, changing the subject as he asks: "How'd you — your girlfriend handle the art — article?"

 _Please tell me she broke up with you. Please say she broke up with you — wait . . . Oh, Merlin! Am I a horrible person for hoping for these thing_? Neville internally panics, still a part of him prays that Noelle ended things with Aurelia. He does not say this out loud.

"Shh, don't call her that so loudly! An' I don't know exactly. I've not spoken with her this mornin' but knowin' me luck she won't take it well." Aurelia sighs.

"I do have to go find her soon." Aurelia adds, there's a flicker of fear in her eyes and Neville doesn't like it one bit.

"If she doesn't take it well you can bet Newton, Nat, and Abbott'll kick her butt and I'll cheer them on from the sidelines." Neville jokes, "But, I'm sure she'll handle it well, she'll let you explain everything."

He pulls her into a tight hug and suddenly Aurelia would much rather stay in his embrace than confront Noelle, she'd of probably done just that if it hadn't been for the fact Noelle's going around calling Aurelia her girlfriend, practically outing her to everyone. You should probably go stop that before she tells the whole school.

"Nev?" Aurelia mumbles against his burgundy jumper, "I've really got to find Noelle."

"Oh."

"Can ye come with me?"

". . . Sure."

Aurelia gives him a small, grateful smile before leading him back to the Great Hall. Along the way, she explains to him everything that had happened to her these morning, from being verbally attacked by little children, to getting howled at by Bulstrode, to Noelle doing the exact opposite of what she had asked of her. The latter of the events is what bugs Aurelia most as she spends most of the walk back rambling about it.

 _"Dump her."_ Is Neville solution to the problem, _"Dump her."_ isn't the solution Aurelia's looking for so Neville doesn't offer it.

Entering the Entrance Hall, Aurelia asks if he'd like to help her practice for the first task one last time, and of course, he says yes.

"You're going to do great tomorrow, Ari." He says.

Aurelia nervously licks her lips "I hope so — oh."

Noelle's approaching them at a rapid pace, a copy of the Daily Prophet clutched in her right hand. Aurelia's face drains of all colour as Noelle starts yelling at her in German.

Aurelia tries to explain but Noelle won't have any of it as she lashes out in her native tongue, screaming words neither Aurelia or Neville understand. After five minutes, Noelle stops yelling and sneers at Aurelia.

"Are you breaking up with me?" Aurelia whimpers. She knew the relationship wasn't going to last but she expected it to go on for a bit longer than this.

"No." Noelle says shortly then stalks off before Aurelia can explain herself.

"I think she broke up with me." Aurelia whispers to Neville.

 _Thank Merlin_ , Neville thinks.

* * *

She doesn't see Noelle for the rest of the day, Aurelia's not sure if that's because Noelle's ignoring her or because she just doesn't see her. Aurelia's absolutely positive that it's the latter. However, as much as it bugs her, it's the least of her worries. She's got less than twenty-four hours to make sure she's got her plan for the first task down pat.

Aurelia's determined to not die during the first task. She wants to make it to the third at the very least, it'll be great to prove to whoever put her name in the goblet that she's not as weak as they thought she was.

" _Somnum Mortem_." Aurelia mumbles as she sits in an empty classroom. Her wand's pointed at a potted plant that Neville had supplied for her, the said plant begins to wilt rapidly after being hit by a greenish-white light.

" _Vivifica Somnum_." She says, another flash of the same coloured light hits the plant and it comes back to life just as quickly. Aurelia's been at this for ten minutes now, getting the same result every time.

The spell's had the same effect ever since she got the wording and the movement just right years back. It's worked ever since she got the 'z' movement down for it but she's still nervous that it won't work when she needs it most.

Neville enters the classroom, struggling to hold a pile of books.

"What's with the books?" Aurelia wonders, coming over to help him.

"Oh, I — well, I figured it might help you to know some information on the dragons you've got to face tomorrow. Just in case something does go wrong — not that I think it will, I think your plan is brilliant — you're so worried that it might not work so I thought may — maybe these books could give you an idea for a back-up plan, j — just —"

Aurelia grabs the books from him and kisses his cheek "Thanks, Plant Boy."

"No — no prob — problem." Neville stammers breathlessly.

The pair get to work, practicing for hours on end. Aurelia goes between her wand and the books. A few hours into their session study of sorts, Neville offers to be the test subject for her spell and Aurelia reluctantly agrees. It works perfectly fine, Neville grows even more intrigued with the spell.

He rambles on about how brilliant he thinks the spell is "Why'd you make it? Is it meant for your nightmares?"

"A new Killing Curse." Aurelia says, she hadn't meant to be so blunt about it and she hadn't meant to explain it so badly. It's just that no one's ever really asked her why she's created a spell, so she might've panicked.

Neville pales, he must've misheard her "B — b — but that doesn't kill you, it just puts you to sleep doesn't it. I mean I could hear and see everything around me b — b — but it felt like I was asleep."

"Technically it's only supposed to fake kill ye. And only part of your brain is asleep, I reckon. I don't know all the finer details of the spell or what it does to yer body exactly all I know is that it's not supposed to hurt anyone as long as they're not under it for days on end. I guess the best way to describe it is, a body-binder that stops even yer eyes from movin'." Aurelia explains quickly, "I made it to be like a Killin' Curse, I made it to mock it. The spell makes ye look dead, if I were to touch ye I would think yer dead because I wouldn't be able to feel yer breathe or yer pulse. The spell hides that from others. Yer heart and everythin' is still working on the inside but on the outside it doesn't appear that way. I thought it'd be useful eventually. I got to work out a few kinks, work on the hand movement the pronunciation but one day I want to spread it to the wrong hands. . . Make people think it's actually a Killing Curse and keep the counter-curse in the right hands. If it gets popular enough, the death toll could go down."

"Wow, that's brilliant, Ari. Really." Neville praises her, "Imagine if this had been around during the first war, I think my par — parents would've loved it."

Aurelia grins "Really?"

Neville nods, grinning right back at her "I — I really do . . . I bet this spell'll guarantee you first place tomorrow!"

Aurelia blushes and quickly busies herself with a book — _you've got a girlfriend, you egg! At least, you're ninety-nine point nine percent certain you still do! Stop getting all blushy over Neville, I don't care how damned cute you think he is, you can't think he's cute right now! Good Godric, you're such a mess!_

* * *

The morning of the first task is the absolute worst and she knows that the moment she wakes up. Her friends' enthusiastic support does nothing but irritate her even if she does appreciate it deep down. She knows it shouldn't but it does. Noelle completely ignores her unless it's to insist that she's not breaking up with her which offsets her most of all. _Well, she did wish you good luck . . . Yeah, but she did that passive-aggressively._

Most of her house-mates focus on Cedric and Aurelia doesn't mind because he's the official champion whereas Aurelia's the forced, underage champion that didn't really want to be part of it. Besides, Cedric's the sociable, golden boy with a nice face and Aurelia's the tall, skinny tree with a bitch face and a sarcastic attitude. It's plain to see who's easier to root for. That's not to say they don't support her at all, they did wish her luck and all that jazz but it's clear to Aurelia that she's not their favourite.

Besides, having her friend's support, even if it's irritating the fuck out of her, is a lot better than having everyone's support.

Aurelia's bad mood lasts all the through lunch even with Neville by her side, she still finds herself feeling irritated and upset.

She doesn't want to do this. She doesn't want to be apart of this tournament and the only one who seems to comprehend this fact is Neville and even he can't make her feel better.

Neville doesn't bring up the first task that's less than a hour away from starting. Instead he makes small talk that Aurelia pays no mind to as she chews on her sandwich and thinks of all the ways this could go wrong.

Her other friends had gone on to pester Cedric whether that was because they wanted to divide their support equally or because they got angry that Aurelia seemed to basically ignore their praise, she doesn't know. All she knows is that she's glad they're not cheering in her ear, which Aurelia thinks might make her sound like an asshole, she just couldn't help it.

" — Who knows though. May — maybe it'll rain and — and then maybe the dragon won't — Oh. Professor Sprout's coming." Neville points out.

Aurelia's dread increases ten-fold.

 _It's time_.

"Can I like maybe not do this?" Aurelia asks Professor Sprout as she approaches the table.

Sprout gives her a fond smile and shakes her head as she beckons Aurelia to follow her. Before she gets up, Neville quickly kisses her cheek, stammering a 'good luck.'

Aurelia blushes as she thanks him before following Sprout out of the Great Hall.

Sprout leads her down to the forest where Aurelia's supposed to get ready for the first task. Along the way, Sprout gives her some pointers and tips but they just float through one ear and out the other.

Everything around Aurelia seems so far away, she's walking but she doesn't feel the ground. It's weird and she doesn't like it. How the _fuck_ is she supposed to fight a dragon feeling like _this_?

 _Merlin_ , she's screwed.

The feeling of floating and the sound of words that don't resonate completely in her brain lasts until she gets to tent, where it all seems to come crashing down on her seconds after Sprout gives her a pat on the back.

Aurelia takes a deep breath, she still feels weird but at least she can feel the ground beneath her feet. It still feels blurry as Aurelia steps into the champions' tent, _I'm going to die_ , Aurelia thinks, _if I keep acting like this_!

As she expects, Bagman completely ignores her when she enters, he's too busy waiting for Harry to show up. Viktor gives her a curt nod and Fleur gives her a small smile as she passes them to sit next to Cedric. Neither Hufflepuff say anything as they wait for Harry to arrive so the first task can officially start.

"Harry! Good-o!" Bagman exclaims happily, not even ten minutes after Aurelia had arrived.

"Come in! Come in, make yourself at home!" Bagman says happily as though none of the champions have a chance of getting eaten by a bloody dragon. Aurelia rolls her eyes, wishing that something would happen to cause the tournament to cancel.

"Well, now we're all here, it's time to fill you in! When the audience has assembled, I'm going to be offering each of you this bag from which you will each select a small model of the thing you are about to face! There are different — er — varieties, you see. And I have to tell you something else too . . . ah, yes . . . your task is to collect the golden egg!"

"A golden egg? Is it out ticket it to a chocolate factory or somethin'?" Aurelia grumbles sarcastically. Internally, she's freaking the fuck out because they want them to _steal an egg_ from a _fucking dragon_! _What. The. Actual. Fuck_.

The sounds of a gathering crowd are soon heard and Bagman offers up the purple bag that Aurelia assumes are filled with mini dragons. He hands the bag to Fleur first, saying: "Ladies first."

She pulls out a miniature Welsh Green with a number two around its' neck. Bagman goes to pass the bag to Krum but Aurelia clears her throat loudly.

"The fook happened tae ladies first, Bagman?" Aurelia demands, accent getting thick with irritation.

 _This is getting ridiculous_! Bagman chuckles apologetically and hands her the bag, she rolls her eyes at him.

_Don't be the Horntail. Don't be the Horntail. Don't be the Horntail._

Aurelia withdrawals a tiny Hebridean Black with a number one around its' neck. _Oh no_ , she thinks, _not these fuckers_.

Hebridean Blacks aren't as bad as Horntails but they can be pretty nasty. Not to mention, extremely territorial. A baby Hebridean had once wandered into the Almerry gardens and burnt Elliot's hand to a crisp for getting to close to it. They had to call upon the MacFustys to deal with it.

Krum gets a Chinese Fireball with a number three, Cedric gets a Swedish Short-Snout with a number four. Leaving the Horntail for Harry. _How shocking_.

Bagman explains that the numbers indicate which order the champions will have to fight their dragons in. Aurelia's first.

 _Fuck_.

She can officially say her and Harry have the worst luck in the entire world. At this very moment, she thinks, her luck's worse than his.

Her throat constricts and her mouth runs dry, it feels like the tent walls are closing in on her. She's so not ready for this.

Before she knows it, the whistle blows signalling her turn. Cedric has to push her forward to get her to move, he reassures her that she'll do just fine but his words barely register in her brain before she's stepping into the enclosure — possibly about to meet her doom.

The Hebridean Black is on the other side of the enclosure, it doesn't seem to notice that she's there as it starts to curl around the eggs.

She raises her wand to put the dragon into a very deep sleep, completely unaware of the tail headed her way.

"ARI!" She hears Neville scream from somewhere in the crowd but it's too late — **_SMACK_**!

The tail collides with her midsection, sending to the ground. Her head smashes against the ground with a sickening crack and she cries out in pain.

The dragon is now very aware that she's there. It stands up, feeling threatened, ready to find the source of the threat. It doesn't take long to find her, curled up into a ball, sobbing.

Aurelia sobs as her head and stomach ache in pain. _Agonising pain_ , her entire body feels like it's on fire.

She hears the sound of leaves crunching. The sound is sharp, like the leaves are made of glass and they're being crushed, there's a low growling, grumbling sound — the sound of the werewolf.

 _Oh, God. She's coming. She's right there. It's going to kill you_. Aurelia struggles to breathe, the sound of people screaming her name though distance tells her something's not right. Not real.

No one should be screaming her name just yet. _Right_? Right. And those leaves shouldn't sound like that . . . The werewolf _isn't_ here. _Can't_ be here.

 _You're supposed to be fighting a dragon, not fending yourself from a werewolf. You're at Hogwarts. Remember. Remember_. Aurelia tries to breathe, tries to talk herself down, _the werewolf is —_

"ARI! GET UP! GET UP!" Neville shrieks loudly.

 _There's no werewolf because he's here. You didn't know him back when the werewolf attacked you. Remember. Do you remember. See, you're safe. Not in the forest, well not in that forest. Safe. No werewolf_.

Aurelia looks up and everything's blurry but she can make out a dark shape looming over her and she panics. She lets out a terrified scream — _it's the werewolf_!

The fiery feeling in her body increases as does the fear for her life. The dragon goes to hit Aurelia with its' tail, this time on purpose. She's unaware of this as she tries to crawl away from the werewolf, _it won't go away_ — _it must be real. It's back. Oh, God_. Suddenly the werewolf lunges for her, instead of attacking her with its' claws it attacks her with its' jaw. The werewolf's sharp teeth sink into her stomach and she feel the horrible pain of her flesh being torn apart.

 _Oh, God_! She screams, _this can't be happening_!

The dragon's inches away from slamming into her when suddenly it recoils as if it's been burned. There's a small flash purple light that goes unnoticed by everyone. Aurelia swallows thickly, _wait_ , she digs her fingers into the ground — _stones. Not leaves. Safe. The werewolf only scratched not bit._

 _You are fighting a dragon not a werewolf — oh, shit! The dragon_!

Aurelia bolts to her feet, not her best idea as it makes her incredibly dizzy. In the distance, she's vaguely aware of Bagman broadcasting about what a shit job she's doing — _dickhead_.

When she gets a good, clear but still rather blurry look at the Hebridean Black, it's angry, very angry.

"Well, shit." She huffs, raising her wand. Aurelia blinks, attempting to clear her vision which is swimming violently. She feels so tired. Aurelia looks from the dragon to the nest, she wants to makes sure that when she hits the Hebridean with the spell that it won't fall on the eggs. Blinking twice more, Aurelia's positive that if she hits it now the eggs will stay safe and so she does, muttering: " _Somnum Mortem_."

There's a greenish-white light that hits the dragon and the crowd falls into a stunned silence. They think she used the Killing Curse on the dragon, it looked similar enough. The only sound is the sound of Neville clapping and cheering enthusiastically.

As Aurelia had theorised, the spell doesn't effect the dragon as strongly as it had effected Elliot, Neville, and the House-Elves she'd used it on. However the fact the dragon went down with one hit makes it pretty convincing that she killed it.

Since it hadn't worked as strongly on the Hebridean, it means it's possible it can wake up on its own, Aurelia wastes no time grabbing the golden egg. Before leaving the enclosure, Aurelia hits the dragon with the counter-curse. She stumbles back into the champions' tent not even bothering to see her score, she probably failed. Or got third place at most. Her vision's too blurry to read her score anyway, but the cheering she receives tells her she must've done pretty well.

Professor Sprout directs in the direction of the medical tent, telling her to go see Madam Pomfrey to be healed.

"Oh, dear." Pomfrey sighs the second Aurelia steps into the tent. Pomfrey examines her, telling her that she's bleeding at the top of her head and her stomach which is something Aurelia hadn't even realised.

A whistle goes off and Bagman announces that it's Fleur Delacour's turn. Pomfrey goes about healing her, ranting about the tournament as she does so but most of the rant goes over Aurelia's head. Even Bagman's loud commentary goes through one ear and out the other for the most part.

" — it's not as deep as I expected which is good . . . There's a lot —"

Another whistle sounds, it's Krum's turn now. Meaning Cedric is next — a bright light invades her eyesight and the throbbing of her head dulls.

A sharp pain stings her stomach and Aurelia yelps out, Pomfrey apologises as she goes about healing the deep gash on Aurelia's stomach.

" — If the dragon caused this amount of damage on accident just imagine the damage she could've inflicted on purpose —"

Aurelia still can't believe she had been knocked down that quickly. She really isn't cut out for this tournament.

"It's a miracle you managed to stay conscious after receiving the blow to your head." Pomfrey comments then continues ranting about how much she despises the tournament.

The Chinese Fireball lets out a roaring shriek as Pomfrey hands her a potion for her headache. Bagman announces that Krum did very well or something along those lines, Aurelia's head is still swimming.

The fourth whistle blows and Aurelia's blood turns to ice. It's Cedric's turn. Maybe it's the potion that sharpens her thoughts or the fact she's extremely worried about Cedric's wellbeing but the crowd seems to be louder and more responsive this time around. Screaming and gasping with every move Cedric seems to make and Bagman's commentary does nothing to help her nerves.

"Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow . . . He's taking risks, this one! . . . Clever move — pity it didn't work!"

There's a deafening roar from the Short-Snout and Bagman shouts: "Very good indeed! Now the marks from the judges!"

Minutes later Cedric enters the tent with a burned face, the fifth and final whistle sounds signalling the start of Harry's turn.

Aurelia questions Cedric if he's okay and he barely has time to nod before Pomfrey is swooping down on him to patch him up. Bagman narrates Harry's turn more enthusiastically than the others, _favouritism much_?

"Great Scott!" Bagman exclaims, "He can fly — are you watching this, Mr. Krum?! . . . Look at that! . . . Will you look at that indeed! Our youngest champion is the second fastest to grab their egg!"

"Who was the fastest?" Aurelia wonders a little too loudly.

"You." Pomfrey answers.

Aurelia frowns, she can't have been the fastest. She felt like she had been lying on the ground for an hour at least "Really?"

"Yes, Bagman said you recovered within ten minutes and because of that rather impressive spell you were able to recover the egg in less than five." Pomfrey explains.

Professor Sprout comes bustling in "Mr. Diggory, congratulations on third place! Miss. Black, not that I am surprised, congratulations on —"

"YA GOT FIRST PLACE, BABY!" Olivia exclaims as she flauntingly steps into the tent, Aurelia's other friends trail shortly behind her. All bearing the expressions of pride and concern.

Neville rushes to her side, concernedly rambling: "Ari are you — you alright! Oh, your head that looked — sounded like it hurt a lot and your stomach — oh! Ari —"

"Relax, Lover Boy! Our girl's totally fine!" Olivia tells Neville, smirking.

 _I'm totally not_ , Aurelia thinks but nevertheless smiles and nods "I'm fuckin' peachy."

She turns her hair a peach colour despite the fact the effort makes her head start throbbing again. It earns a laugh from all her friends so she thinks it's worth it.

"As you should be, you beat, Potter!" Nat laughs.

"What! Holy fuck, I didn't even expect to survive this task let alone get a higher score than Harry. Wow."

Hannah laughs "Dumbledore gave you a higher score than Potter. He gave you a ten."

"What does he want from me?" Aurelia mutters, it's too _weird_ that Dumbledore put her before Harry. _Suspicious even_.

Sprout gives Aurelia a pat on the back, whispering: "After you receive instructions for the second task, Dumbledore has asked that you come see him in his office."

Aurelia frowns. _Okay_ , she hadn't expected him to _actually_ want something from her.

"Am I in trouble?"

Sprout shakes her head "I don't believe so."

 _How reassuring_.

Sprout heads over to check on Cedric, Neville grabs her hand, looking quite nervous.

"Hey — uh, Ari, did — did you want to may — maybe come to my common room to celebrate?"

Aurelia glances at her dorm mates "Do you guys mind?"

They grin, chorusing: "No, not at all."

"Sure, Plant Boy, that sounds lovely."

Neville grins goofily and Aurelia's heart skips at beat at the sight. Aurelia scolds herself as she looks away, she glances around the tent wondering if Noelle would be coming.

The German girl doesn't end up showing her face and before Aurelia knows it, she carted back to the champions' tent where Bagman explains the next task. He tells them the clue to it is in the egg they've collected which should sound funny but to Aurelia, it just sounds foreboding.

And, Aurelia _really_ likes eggs — despite often using the word to insult people — it's one of her favourite foods. So, why the fuck is she intimidated by this overgrown golden egg?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think Dumbledore wants to talk about??? Also y'all probably can guess what lil Ari is gonna do when she gets to his office lmao it's going to be Angsty™ which is probably why I'm actually getting the next chapter written faster because Angst is my Full Form™! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated! I would also really, really appreciate it if you could let me know what you thought of it!
> 
> p.s: uhhhh so I posted the Bellatrix Black fic: Bad Blood that's connected to this one,,, so like,,, maybe check that out if you want????


	21. | XIX: ❝So a Star Dies . . .❞

****

**CHAPTER xix** ** _!_**  
So a Star Dies . . .

* * *

 **IT** ' **S NOT THAT AURELIA DISLIKES DUMBLEDORE** , **IT** ' **S** that she doesn't like how he looks at her. It's like he's a cat who's looking at a bowl of cream that's just out of reach. If she's being honestly, it bloody scares her. Aurelia can't understand why he always looks at her like that.

So, to say that Aurelia doesn't want to meet Dumbledore is an understatement but she goes anyway. The sooner she gets whatever this is over with, the better. What exactly could he want with her?

It takes her an hour to get to Dumbledore's office. She had hid the golden egg in her dorm and on the way out she had been mobbed by a sea of cheering Hufflepuffs. Which is a lot harder to escape than it sounds.

She hopes that Dumbledore doesn't keep her long as she would very much like to get to the Gryffindor common room as quickly as possible.

Arriving at the statue that guards his office, Aurelia finds a Chocolate Frog on it which she quickly stuffs into her pocket.

"Chocolate Frog." She says to the gargoyle which allows her access into the Headmaster's office.

 _It's empty_ , she rolls her eyes, _of course_.

"Wonderful time for a bathroom break, Albus." Aurelia mutters sarcastically, looking around the spacious office.

Out in the open, Aurelia spots a Pensieve, her eyebrows furrow together. Perhaps this is has something to do with what Dumbledore wanted to discuss.

Aurelia's familiar with Pensieves, she quite enjoys them. There's one at Almerry Castle that her and Elliot use often; Elliot for revising school work during holidays and Aurelia for storing away memories when they get too much for her to handle.

Pensieves fascinated Aurelia but her favourite thing about them is they help her remember things like a normal person. Once she stores a certain memory away for safe keeping, it becomes less potent in her brain, it becomes blurry. It works like that for all her memories except the werewolf attack, that always remains burned into her memory. Even though she had stored that memory away she still remembered every single detail of what happened.

She had stored a lot of obscure but strong memories of her Aunt Bellatrix away for the Pensieve so they wouldnt' be so clear. That did the trick, even though they were still in her mind they weren't as clear. Aurelia loves that, loves not being able to remember everything down to the finest detail.

Aurelia traces her finger around the basin, curiosity welling inside her. Did whatever's inside the Pensieve have to do with what Dumbledore wanted from her?

She leans closely, trying to get a good look at what's in the basin. Aurelia wants to see if she can find her memory self anywhere in it. She's got to be as she highly doubts Dumbledore would just leave his Pensieve out in the open knowing that he's got a student coming to speak with him.

 _That's is unless he wants you too see it_ , a little voice in the back of her mind says, _what if he wants you to look inside it . . . Stop it, just wait 'til he gets here to find out_.

Noticing she's getting a little to close, Aurelia pulls back slightly, she still wants to see if she can catch sight of her memory self somewhere in the Pensieve.

Fawkes stretches his wings, the abrupt fluttering sound in the eerily quiet office startles Aurelia and she lurches forward. She panics thinking that it's Dumbledore returning and she tries to pull away but when she had went forward her nose had touched the liquid — "Oh, shit!" — and before she can stop it, she's being pulled into the memory.

 _Today's really not my day_ , Aurelia thinks as she lands herself in a courtroom. She realises this must be what Dumbledore had wanted to discuss although she can't think of why but she does recall being in a courtroom once, Aurelia doesn't remember much else besides that it had been really cold and she didn't like being there.

There's a possibility that this isn't the courtroom she remembers, Dumbledore's probably been to lots of trials but why would he leave it out when he wants to talk to her? Aurelia doubts it's a coincidence.

"Please, Dumbledore!" Mae pleads from behind her.

It's confirmed, this is the courtroom Aurelia remembers. _On the bright-side, you'll finally get to learn why you were in a courtroom but you'll probably get expelled for snooping through your Headmaster's memories_.

"Please . . . Please, sir. She's mentally ill, Azkaban will only make her worse . . . Can't she be placed somewhere else?"

Aurelia feels her blood run cold. _Oh, God, what the fuck did I ever do to you?!_

This is her aunt's trial.

"GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!" She screams, no one notices her. It's a memory, of course, they don't.

Why couldn't this have been Sirius' trial — _Sirius didn't get a trial_ , Aurelia reminds herself, _that's what Auntie Meda said_.

She takes a deep breath, ready to push herself out of the memory when:

"Mama?"

She freezes, turning in her seat ever so slightly to catch sight of her little baby self. She's incredibly tiny, Aurelia can't believe she went from being that tiny to being a fucking tree, she's pale and freckled and wrapped in a yellow blanket — she's still got that yellow blanket. Her baby self is half-asleep, her hair's dark red to match Mae's hair and her dazed, warm blue eyes peer up at Mae curiously.

Mae coos at her, smoothing down her red curls. Baby Aurelia gives a little yawn and grabs little fistfuls of Mae's blouse as she snuggles closer to her.

Is this what Dumbledore had wanted to show her? _Why_? Does he want to see how many emotional breakdowns he can give her in one year?

Aurelia glances around the courtroom, there aren't many people there just yet so she assumes the trial must just be starting. She glances back at her baby self, she's fallen back asleep by the looks of things, which explains why she doesn't remember much of this as she does with pretty much everything else she remembers. Mae continues to run her nimble fingers through the baby's red curls.

"Mrs. Lestrange refuses any offer I've given her besides Azkaban. She keeps ranting and raving on about how guilty she is, she's turning the Ministry and the Aurors against any reason I have to give her a lighter sentence." Dumbledore replies.

Even though he can't see her, Aurelia gives him a weird look, why on Earth would he want to give Bellatrix a lighter sentence. Unless — _no, don't even think that_!

"But . . . But, Dumbledore. Sir, you know! Don't do this! Ye know — Ye know —" Mae whispers desperately.

Dumbledore holds up a hand and Mae's plea comes to a halt, she looks quite affronted that he had stopped her.

"I know, Miss. Macleod, I know." Dumbledore says calmly, "But, they'll never believe that, not with how she's acting. She's rather believable, isn't she . . . Mrs. Lestrange is far too gone in the eyes of the Minstry and the only acceptable place for her to go is Azkaban, so they believe. There's nothing I can do — or anyone for that matter can do about."

Bellatrix deserved the sentence she got, she deserved worse than that yet Albus fucking Dumbledore, of all people, was sitting around saying that she could have a lighter sentence?! What the actual fuck is going on? Is she missing something here? Her aunt had been, without a doubt, sighted fleeing the Longbottoms the night of the attack. She did the same amount of damage as the Lestrange brothers and Barty Crouch Jr. she certainly did not deserve a lighter sentence. So, how come Dumbledore thought that she did?

 _Something's not right_.

Mae scowls at him, saying nothing more on the matter as people start to pour into the courtroom.

"Is little Elias still asleep?" Dumbledore asks lightly, changing the subject.

Mae gives him a dirty look before nodding "Aye, wee thing didn't get much sleep last night, he's afraid that the Aurors are goin' to come back. I wanted to leave him in Brysen's care for the day but the wee lad refused to go."

"Can't say I blame him, Brysen Macleod is a rather reckless character, if I recall correctly, he was never good with the younger students. That's why he didn't make Prefect." Dumbledore says amusedly.

"He was never any good with my younger siblin's either. He's got a good heart, really he does, he's just not good with children no matter how hard he tries." Mae sighs softly, "He shouldn't never be in charge of wee ones for too long, especially not Ellie."

Aurelia glances back again. In the seat next to Mae's sits a sprawled out four-year-old Elliot Burke, who's still going by his birth name, Elias. He's out cold, his head is leaning against Mae's arm, his curly, long hair is masking most of his chubby face as he snores softly.

"Ellie'll sleep right through this, I'll tell ye that. He only wanted to come because he knows he'll get to see Trix after this . . . He just doesn't know this'll be the last time he'll see her."

Mae's in denial of what Bellatrix's done, Aurelia knows that, Mae's never been — would never be — one to let her feelings cloud her judgment so blindly. She must be in shock too.

Aurelia feels terrible for her, she can't imagine the pain Mae must be going through at this time, it'd probably make Aurelia very angry if she tried to.

Look at all the pain, her aunt had caused. Aurelia hopes she feels bad for what she's done. She hopes it's eating Bellatrix alive as she rots in Azkaban.

"This is the first time Lia's stopped crying since, well, ye know . . . Narcissa gave me her for the day just so she wouldn't have to deal with the crying — Moody."

Moody had slipped into the seat in front of Mae and next to Dumbledore.

"Macleod." Moody greets stiffly, "How's the lad? Is he alright, McCaffey got him good, didn't he?"

"Trix got McCaffey worse." Mae says blandly, "Ellie's fine, the spell didn't cause any lasting damage. Thank ye for askin' Moody. I'm sorry about McCaffey."

"I'm sorry too, he had such potential." Moody says gruffly.

They don't say much else besides some solemn small talk here and there for the next ten minutes until Barty Crouch Sr. speaks: "Bring them in."

 _I think it's time for me to go_ , Aurelia thinks but she can't bring herself to move a muscle. She'd be lying if she said that this memory didn't captivate her in the least bit.

Six Dementors glide in, flanking four soon-to-be prisoners. Three of which are her family.

She vaguely recognises the Lestrange brothers, she doesn't have the fondest memories of the eldest, Rodolphus — from what she remembered of him, he loathed her. The youngest, Rabstan or 'Uncle Rabby' as she and Draco and once called him, had been nicer to her, as far as she remembers. The two of them are easy to tell apart despite sharing the same eyes in both shape and colour, they've the same hair colour and almost the exact same hairstyle. Their skin's the same tan tone, Rodolphus' skin seemed to be marred with small scars while Rabastan's seemed to be smoother than a baby's bottom. Rodolphus was taller and thickset, he wears a blank expression on his narrow face while he confidently walks towards the set of chairs; Rabastan was the shorter, thinner one. He's not nearly as confident as his brother, his eyes dart nervously around the courtroom as he's guided to the chairs.

Then there's Barty Crouch Jr.; Aurelia doesn't have any distinct memories of him but he does have a familiar face — milky-white skin covered in freckles and straw-coloured, scraggly hair. He's the youngest of the group, Aurelia thinks he was the same age as Regulus. Unlike the others, he's putting on quite a show, kicking and screaming about how he didn't do it — _he totally did_.

Aurelia almost doesn't want to look at her aunt, it might make her cry. She does anyway, knowing she's going to end up in tears whether or not she looks at Bellatrix.

Her aunt, like herself, is quite tall. Aurelia thinks she's a little shorter than her, by a least a few inches. They've got the same heavy-lidded eyes but Aurelia's are wider in size, they're both blue, Bellatrix's eyes being a cool, grey-blue and Aurelia's being a warm, sky-like blue. They've got a similar face shape, Aurelia's face is more heart-shaped than Bellatrix, maybe that's because Bellatrix is very lacking of a literal heart. Even their skin-tone is the same, at the moment her aunt seems to be quite pale, almost sickly so. But, if she hadn't been surrounded by the Dementors, Aurelia's sure it's be the same pale-peach colour. _Merlin_ , she hates how much she's got in common with this dreadful woman.

Aurelia tries to list their differences so she doesn't make herself too angry, she's light and curly-haired compared to Bellatrix's dark waves of thick, shiny hair. Her jawline isn't as perfect or as sharp as her aunt's. Aurelia's jawline is noticably sharp as Olivia loves pointing it, but compared to Bellatrix's jawline which — as Olivia would say: "Oh my god, you jawline could totally cut me in half!" — Aurelia's jawline would only figuratively give someone a paper cut. And then, Aurelia groans angrily, the bane of her existence — their body-shapes. Aurelia's biggest insecurity thanks to her mother's friends.

Aurelia's a fucking tree — an overgrown sunflower at the nicest, she's got no shape to her body, it's the straightest thing about her. She's got no boobs, no ass, and no hips. And this, in her parents' friend group was a big problem. How would she be the perfect Pureblood wife with a body like that, she may have only been a child at the time when this was discussed but her mother's friends were always predicting and making snide comments that she's going to grow into a terribly bland body.

Of course, she's a Metamorphmagus she can change that but it's not the same as actually having it. Like, how her aunt has it. Her aunt's got the perfect Pureblood wife body, she's got the epitome of a womanly body from the hips to the boobs and it pisses Aurelia off. Out of all the things she had inherited from her aunt, why couldn't it have been that? _Fuck you, genetics, fuck you_.

 _Okay, stop_. Pointing out their differences had only made her angrier — _wait, you've got better lips! Ha, take that Bellabitch_! Aurelia studies her aunt's stoic expression, her lips are pressed together tightly making them look non-existent what she could see of her lips are chapped and cracked. Aurelia's lips are fuller, she's got a cupid's bow — Lavender and Parvati had told her that when she had got stuck with them once in the Gryffindor common room. Her lower lip was bigger than her top lip which often makes her look like she's almost constantly pouting.

The Dementors have glided out of the courtroom having chained the four to their chairs, Bellatrix leans back in hers, looking nonchalant as ever. Aurelia grits her teeth as an overwhelming anger takes over her entire being. How can her aunt just not feel bad, feel sorry for what she's done? How can —

Aurelia's breath catches in her throat as Bellatrix looks at her, well not at _her_ , but, it seems like it for a moment then Aurelia realises she's looking at Mae. The corners of her aunt's lips twitch upwards and her gaze softens ever so slightly before her stoic expression returns.

Crouch Sr. stands up and begins speaking: "You've been brought here before the Council of Magical Law so that we may pass judgement over you for a crime so heinous that we have rarely heard the likes of it within this court."

He speaks loudly, trying to drown out his son's pleas.

Aurelia continues to look at her aunt, who's now tapping her slender fingers against the arms of the chair.

 _Crazy bitch_.

"We have heard the evidence against you. The four of you stand accused of capturing Aurors — Frank and Alice Longbottom — by means of the Cruciatus Curse, believing them to have knowledge of the present whereabouts of your exiled master, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named —"

Crouch Jr. screams his innocence yet again, cutting Crouch Sr. off. Aurelia notices that Bellatrix had stopped tapping her fingers and is now holding onto the edges of the arms so tightly that her knuckles have turned a ghostly-white.

Her expression once stoic and verging on bored had completely devoid of emotion, almost as if she's dead. Her eyes practically looked lifeless.

"You are further accused of subjecting their infant son to very same curse when they wouldn't give you any information —"

There are cries of outrage and Aurelia's entire body goes numb. She didn't know this. She didn't know. Neville had never told her this.

Aurelia chokes back a sob as she glares down at the four. Rabastan has the decency to look slightly guilty but that doesn't mean he feels guilty, Crouch Jr. screams that he didn't do it and Rodolphus looks extremely smug, a smirk on his face that says ' _Fuck yeah I did it, what about it_?'. Then there's Bellatrix, much to Aurelia's surprise, looks genuinely shocked but it's only for a moment before she regains her composure.

"You planned to restore He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named to his full power and resume the lives of violence you presumably led while he was strong. I now ask the jury to raise their hands if they believe, as I do, that their crimes deserve them a life sentence in Azkaban."

Mae lets out a muffled sob from behind Aurelia as every single member of the jury raises their hand, the crowd around them starts clapping, their faces alight with savage triumph. Crouch Jr begins to scream as the Dementors reenter the courtroom to collect them, the other three rise from their seats quietly.

Bellatrix looks up at Crouch "The Dark-Lord _will_ rise again! Throw us in —"

"MAMA!"

Aurelia freezes. Everything seems to stop, the crowd, her heart, even time itself. Her baby self had woken up, possibly at the sound of her aunt's voice, she's standing unsteadily on Mae's lap, trying to get a good look at Bellatrix.

"MAMA!" She wails, "MAMA! MAMA!"

The crowd breaks out into a whisper, Mae pulls baby Aurelia out of sight but Bellatrix had seen her. She stands frozen, her face contorts in pain for a moment, her eyes glossed over and unfocused as she stares at Mae. Then like a flipped switch, her face becomes blank and she turns back to Crouch.

Her voice sounds different this time, it verges on fear, like she's trying to warn them "He will rise again. When he does he will come for us and he will reward us far beyond any of his other supporters. We alone were faithful. We alone tried to find him!"

The crowd jeers angrily as Bellatrix sweeps out of the courtroom. Her baby self lets out a muffled wail of "Mama!" but between the roaring crowd and the Crouch men having an heated family moment, it goes unnoticed.

"Take them away and may they rot there!" Crouch Sr. declares as the memory starts to fade and Aurelia's suddenly lurched forward into a new memory.

She finds herself in front of what she suspects to be a holding cell.

"Mumma can we go see Ma now?" A small voice asks. Aurelia looks down to spot a four-year-old Elliot.

He's peering up at Mae with wide, grey eyes, he pouts "You promised."

Mae smiles sadly "I did no such thing, Elias, I said I might see her and then ye insisted on comin' with me."

"But you brought baby and baby doesn't even want to come all baby wants to do is drool and cry." Elliot complains, sticking his nose in the air.

"I was asked to bring her." Mae tells him.

His nose wrinkles "Why?"

She doesn't seem to have an answer for that as she turns to Dumbledore and a pink blob of a woman who's even shorter than Mae.

The pink woman clears her throat "Dumbledore believes that these children will help keep Bellatrix subdued. She refuses to drink a Calming Draught and we don't want to bring a wand anywhere near her, who knows what she'll do if she managed to get ahold of it."

"Why does Bellatrix need to be 'subdued'? Why isn't she in Azkaban?" Mae asks, snootily.

Aurelia gets the feeling Mae doesn't like this woman.

Dumbledore answers this time "I've discovered a few pieces of startling information and I believe Bellatrix knows more of these matters —"

"And ye actually expect Tr — Bellatrix to answer yer questions?"

"I do not." Annoying pink lady answers, "But, Dumbledore thought if —"

"He got Ellie and Lia involved they could be used as leverage. Yer startin' to have a track record, Albus!" Mae accuses.

"It's not something I enjoy —"

Mae snorts "Could've fooled me — well, let's get this on with I'm sure the Ministry is not thrilled wit' yer decision to pluck a madwoman from prison on'y three day int'er life sentence."

"Of course, Miss, Macleod, right this way."

Annoying pink lady protests "But, Dumbledore, she shouldn't go in there! She's got no way to defend herself."

"Defend myself from what, Dolores. Bellatrix would kill you before she killed me. I'm useful to her and you, well, you — you're just a half-blood." Mae laughs haughtily, shocking Aurelia.

"You're a filthy Squib." Dolores counters.

Aurelia turns and punches the woman, her fist goes right through annoying pink lady or Dolores as Mae called her. She fumes as memory continues on, how dare this woman call Mae filthy!

"Dolores, please." Dumbledore says.

Dolores scowls but says nothing more. Mae sneers at Dolores, hugging baby Aurelia close to her chest and grabbing Elliot's tiny hand. She follows Dolores and Dumbledore into the holding cell.

Anxiousness takes ahold of her entire being, there's a soft buzzing filling her head. She suddenly doesn't feel all that great and it's all because of how Bellatrix, despite an obvious, nasty head injury, perks up instantly at the sight of the yellow bundle in Mae's arms.

Why is her aunt looking at her like that? Why does her aunt _always_ look at her like that? As though Aurelia's the most important thing in the world — like shes' her _own_ daughter.

Aurelia chokes on the air. _No_. She can't be, Bellatrix had never pegged Aurelia as the type to have a kid despite being very motherly in her memories. _But, it's possible_.

 _No_ , she shakes her head but the insecurity is relentless, _you know that. It's always been possible. Deep down you've always known it could be possible — no. No. No. No_.

Aurelia breathes heavily, _you know who you are and that is a Malfoy. That's who you are_.

Her mind's racing and she tries her best to focus on the memory in front of her. Elliot's smiling, shrieking excitedly as he toddles forward and Bellatrix tears her gaze away from baby Aurelia to give him a distracted but soft smile.

"Ma!" He cries happily, hugging her leg. Elliot shudders, Bellatrix must be freezing from Azkaban; he pulls away from her, saying "Ma, you cold."

"Up!" Elliot demands but she can't pick him up because of the chains.

Dumbledore takes a seat opposite Bellatrix, in between them sits a metal table upon which Dumbledore places a book he's pulled from his robes. Bellatrix tenses at the sight of it and Elliot's demand falls on deaf ears. Of course, Elliot being Elliot, decides to climb onto Bellatrix's lap.

There's genuine fear in her eyes but her face remains rather blank with the exception of her lips quivering. Still, when she answers, her voice is steady: "Am I supposed to know what that is?" she raises an eyebrow, giving Dumbledore an unimpressed look.

"It was found in your study at Lestrange Manor."

"Doesn't mean it's mine, Albus, does it have my name on it?"

There's a moment of silence, Dumbledore looks exasperated, Dolores looks furious, and Mae looks like she's struggling not to laugh and cry at the same time. Her baby self had poked her head out of the blanket, no doubt at the sound of her aunt's — _possibly mother. Shut up_. — voice.

"Mama?" Baby Aurelia asks groggily.

Bellatrix's demeanour changes drastically, Dumbledore asks once more about the book and Bellatrix denies that it's her book but less defensively this time. Her eyes are locked on baby Aurelia, who's staring right back at her with wide, tear-filled eyes.

"Mama?"

Dolores suddenly rips baby Aurelia from Mae's grasp and brandishes her in front of Bellatrix like she's some kind of weapon.

Baby Aurelia lets out a sharp cry and Aurelia vaguely remembers this. She remembers someone had yanked her out of, who until now, Aurelia had thought to be her mother's arms. She also remembers that it ends with her biting the person. _Good_ , the pink bitch deserves it. Everything else about this is blurry in her memories.

"Answer his question truthfully, Lestrange!"

"Or what, half-blood? Are you going to hurt an innocent baby? That won't look good for your reputation." Bellatrix taunts, she sounds calm but she looks close to losing her shit.

Her nostril are flaring as she breathes heavily, her extremely pale face had gained some colour. Aurelia's surprised her voice is that steady.

 _What's so important about this book anyway_? Aurelia wonders.

It's an old book, she recognises the name of the author: Ian Hattersley. His family used to be part of the Scared Twenty-Eight until the late eighteen hundreds when they started fraternising with Muggles and vampires. The book title is even more familiar to Aurelia.

**_Donum Vitaes: Wizard Kind's Greatest Defence Mechanism_ **

One of the nicknames Mae's given her, well the Donum Vitae part of it. She's never heard of spell called that before.

"Why would I like about ownership of a bloody book? It's not my book, why would I waste my time reading about a dead magic, I was too busy serving the Dark Lord, I had no time to waste. Now could you please stop shaking her like that, you'll give her brain damage, Dolores." Bellatrix snaps, the last bit has a twinge of pleading to it.

"I have a very good reason for you to have used this book, Mrs. Lestrange." Dumbledore says.

Aurelia feels a hand on her shoulder and Dumbledore, the real Dumbledore, asks her to return to his office.

"To save —" Memory Dumbledore says but it becomes muffled as she's pulled out of the Pensieve.

Aurelia's quite glad to get out of the memory but at the same time she's rather nervous to face Dumbledore. At any point she could've left the memory but she hadn't because she's a nosy little bitch.

She gives Dumbledore a flustered smile "Y'know the saying: 'curiosity killed the cat', sir?"

Dumbledore smiles amusedly "Curiosity is not a sin, Aurelia."

"I'm really sorry, sir! I didn't mean to look in. I was just glancing at it, y'know to see if I was in it, I thought this mighta had somethin' to do with why I was asked to be here and then Fawkes scared me and boom! I was in the memory. I could've left at any moment but I didn't and I'm so sorry for doing that."

"I am not angry with you, Aurelia, we are both at fault for this situation. I shouldn't have left the Pensieve open like that but I had some unexpected and urgent business to attend to and it slipped my mind."

Aurelia frowns "So . . . The Pensieve didn't have anything to do with what you wanted to talk about?"

"Yes and no . . . At first it had everything to do with what I wanted to discuss. Of course, I had no intentions of showing you the memories I was merely looking them over to see if my theory was correct. You see I believed that you had used similar magic on that dragon to the one mentioned in the memory but I realised while attending to my business that this can't be possible. Then I recalled Mr. Lupin mentioning you created your own spells, that made much more sense than you practicing such ancient magic." Dumbledore explains but Aurelia's still got a nagging feeling that he wanted her to see those memories.

"You . . . You want to know about my spell? Did the spell hurt the dragon? It — it wasn't supposed to!" Aurelia panics.

"The dragon is in perfect health, the spell you used has intrigued the Dragon Tamers. They say it'd be very efficient if they had that type of magic."

Aurelia blushes, she enjoyed the praise but she's definitely not ready to hand over the spell just yet, not even for Charlie "Well, I agree, it's a rather interesting spell I found in the library I can't quite recall the incantation but I do know the movement. You could check my library records if you must."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkle amusement "Cunning and clever, you are a lot like Bellatrix, she always knew how to cover her track even when she was a young girl."

She bites her lip, feeling very angry and scared at the same time, she's got so many questions running through her head. Why had she been in that courtroom in the first place? Why had Dumbledore wanted to get Bellatrix a lighter sentence? Why had he let that pink woman use her like that, more importantly why had it seemed to _actually_ work?

"Sir . . . Is she . . . Is Bellatrix my real mum?" Aurelia asks, voice cracking.

Dumbledore surveys her for a very tense moment. The sound of the gargoyle being moved is the only thing that could be heard, the longer he stares at her the more anxious she becomes.

It's a simple yes or no question. Depending on the answer, after the shock sets in, a long fucking explanation as to why the fuck it was kept from her for so long.

"There's no easy way for me to tell you this —"

 _Fuck_.

Her head is spinning, she can't breathe, she can't believe —

"You're parents didn't love you." Lyra says bluntly, cutting off Dumbledore as she saunters into his office.

"Not what I asked but thanks for statin' the obvious, Lyra!" Aurelia snaps, hair turning red. She's so close to the truth and Lyra's getting in the way.

Lyra smiles sweetly but her eyes are narrowed dangerously "You want the truth don't you, Aurelia Alice?"

Aurelia nods quickly, it's both a good and bad idea to have her Aunt Lyra deliver the news. She'll be quick and brutal about it, Aurelia wants the truth delivered quickly as possible but she doesn't want it to be delivered harshly.

Lyra's grin widens "Your parents didn't love you, they didn't want you. You were a girl and born sickly at that. You were a surprise . . . They were only supposed to have only one, a son — Draco. But, you came along, this tiny, sickly thing — your parents didn't even think you'd make it through the night."

"Y'know I think the answer I'd prefer is 'yes'." Aurelia quips weakly, she'd rather hear that she had a mother who had loved her than parents who loathed her — _why the fuck would you want Bellatrix Lestrange as your mother, what's wrong with you — oh, God, you're horrible!_

Lyra rolls her eyes "They gave you to a House-Elf, whether it was because they didn't care what happened to you or because they didn't want to get attached to their possibly dying baby. The House-Elf happened to be one that Bellatrix often called upon, I think it was our childhood House-Elf, Mumsie or Mimsie. She called upon it that night it was supposed to be dealing with you but it didn't want to face Bellatrix's wrath so it answered her call with you in its' arms. And —" she laughs coldly, "And my sister with her bleeding, fucked up heart too you in along side, Elias. You probably only survived the night due to her care. You were raised by her, you were named by her, you were cared for by her, she loved you with all her heart. She loved you so much I believe she would've died for you if it came down to it. It was sickening really. You were everything Bellatrix wanted, in her eyes you were her daughter but you're not her daughter."

Aurelia covers her mouth to hold back a sob, she had always know that she was never the golden child, never the apple of their eye but she never thought they didn't want her or they didn't love her at all. Lyra smiles as Aurelia's face twists in pain.

"I thought you'd be happy to hear that your mother isn't Bellatrix, Aurelia Alice." Lyra says, her tone vicious.

"Well, I bloody would be if it hadn't been followed by a 'yer real parents fookin' hate ye!' Lyra!" Aurelia snaps.

"I'm just telling you the truth, my dear niece." Lyra laughs.

"Lyra." Dumbledore says warningly, "Why have you come here?"

Her parents hated her because she was a girl — _oh, God_! — they let her unstable aunt raise her because they could care less — _I'm asking again, God, what the fuck did I ever do to you to deserve this_?! — her best friend\crush's parents were tortured into insanity by her aunt\adoptive mother — _this can't get anymore fucked up than this_!

Lyra gives Aurelia a dirty look, ignoring Dumbledore's question as she grabs Aurelia's crescent moon necklace "Bellatrix bought this for you. As I recall, she's got a matching one, I believe her's is a star with a little moon attached to it."

Aurelia whimpers, pulling her once favourite necklace from her aunt's grip. She feels a surge of anger for the piece of jewellery her neck, she recalls Alice's reaction to seeing it and Aurelia sobs.

Dumbledore scolds Lyra for being so blunt then asks once again what Lyra's doing here. This time, Lyra responds but her response is lost to Aurelia.

Aurelia is panicking, this is all too much. Is she Bellatrix's daughter or not, does she have to consider Bellatrix her adoptive mother like Elliot does. Bellatrix did the same thing for Aurelia that she did for Elliot, which should make her Aurelia's mother especially if Elliot thinks what Bellatrix did makes her his mother. _Doesn't it_? Aurelia doesn't want to consider that woman her mother.

Dumbledore dismisses Aurelia and she's glad for it, but she's delivered one last punch to her gut as Lyra smiles maliciously at her and says: "Bye, bye Aurelia Alice, enjoy your little Gryffindor party!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I hope you enjoyed Angst Central™! I loved this chapter so much, like Mae, Bellatrix, Elliot, and Aurelia interacting is my favourite thing ever even if it happened in the past! Do you think Dumbledore let her see that on purpose, do you think he and Lyra are lying to her? Do you think Bellatrix might be innocent even though she says she did it and was caught doing it? I'd love to know your theories, like please, they fuel me! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated! I would also really, really appreciate it if you could let me know what you thought of it! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and if you could, please leave a review on the chapter!


	22. | XX: ❝Dancing Queen❞

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**CHAPTER xx** ** _!_**  
Dancing Queen

* * *

 **GOING TO A PARTY AFTER** **YOU** ' **VE JUST** found out your parents had hated you and Bellatrix Lestrange had adopted you bloody sucks. Going to a party you were invited to by Neville Longbottom after you've just found out your parents had hated you and Bellatrix Lestrange had adopted you sucks even more.

Aurelia feels completely drained after leaving Dumbledore's office, she just wants to get to the Gryffindor common room to see Neville but she also wants to go to her dorm and curl up in her bed and cry. She picks the option that involves Neville because it's the best option, of course, it's best option — it involves seeing Neville!

She hopes that seeing him will cheer her up despite the fact she feels like she's drowning in her teen angst bullshit.

Neville knows something's wrong the moment she enters the room, she smiles but her brown eyes dart around nervously, she's shaking noticeably, and that necklace that's always around her neck isn't there.

She must've lost it while facing the dragon. _Oh_ , _she must be devastated_ , Neville thinks as he offers her some chocolate pudding which she actually declines. He knows that necklace was her favourite thing, he doesn't think he's ever seen her without it.

Before he can ask if she's upset because her necklace is gone, Lee encourages Harry to open the golden egg and half the Gryffindors join in on the encouraging. Harry obliges their chants and opens the egg, it's not what any of them are expecting.

The golden egg emits a high-pitched shriek that makes Neville's blood run cold — his parents' screams echo in his ears.

Fred demands that Harry shut the egg, hands clasped over his ears as he stands next to Aurelia, who's gone extremely pale, her eyes are wide in fright.

"What was that? Sounds like a banshee, maybe you've got to get past one of those next, Harry!" Seamus theorises.

Dropping a plate full of sausage rolls, Neville exclaims fearfully: "They're going to have to fight the Cruciatus Curse!"

"Don't be a prat, Neville, that's illegal." George says.

"No . . . No they showed us the Unforgivables this year it — it can't be a — a coincidence." Aurelia stammers faintly.

Neville reaches out and grabs Aurelia's hand, she hardly reacts, she just stares blankly ahead looking as though she's seen a ghost.

"Well, I thought it sounded a bit like Percy's singing . . . Maybe you've got to attack him while he's in the shower." George jokes.

"You alright, Blue, you look a little pale?" Fred wonders.

"M'fine." She mumbles unconvincingly. It's obvious that she's not fine and the egg did nothing to help her mood.

Fred doesn't believe her anymore than Neville does but he turns back to Hermione and offers her a platter of jam tarts.

Aurelia's taken to muttering something under her breath, Neville can't hear her over the noise in the common room, he squeezes her hand and she jumps out of her skin. Her eyes, wild and wide dart around the room; she looks like a caged animal.

She breathes heavily than pulls her hand from his, turning on her heel to run out of the common room. Neville puts down the custard cream he had picked up.

Fred laughs, glancing at Neville and saying: "Just my little joke, Neville."

Neville's got no idea what he means by that, he doesn't wait for an answer as he follows after Aurelia and Fred returns to his conversation with Hermione.

Aurelia hasn't gone far, it seems that she only left the common room to get some air. She's leaning against the stairs banister, sniffling as the Fat Lady asks what's wrong. Aurelia slips down to the floor, clutching her ears and squeezing her eyes shut.

"Ari?" Neville says gently, taking a seat next to her.

"She's not here. She's not here. She's not here. She's not here." Aurelia mutters.

"Ari, _no one_ is here." Neville tells her, feeling confused as he reaches out and touches her shoulder.

She flinches, arms flying up to defend herself, hitting Neville in the process.

"Ow." He hisses quietly, it hurt less than the time she punched him but it catches him off guard.

"Ari, you're burning up." He tells her, when he had touched her shoulder it had radiated so much heat that if it was possible he'd think her insides were on fire, "Ari, may — maybe you should go see mad — Madam Pomfrey, I think you — you're sick."

"I'm not sick! There's nothing wrong with me!" Aurelia protests defensively, "I'm not sick, I'm not a freak! I'm not crazy! She was there! Really there!"

Neville's bloody confused "I didn't say you — you were crazy or a — a freak. Who are you talking about?"

"You don't see it — they _never_ see it but it's there — _she's there_ , I swear it's real! Sometimes I can even feel the pain. I'm not crazy, Gwen was there." Aurelia sobs, "It was like it was happening all over again. I'm not crazy, I'm not crazy. I'm not, Neville."

"You're not." He assures her, "You should go see Madam Pomfrey, maybe she'll know what to do."

"No. No. They — I've talked with Healers before, all they do is tell me that it's in my head and there's nothing they can do to help, it's too risky."

"Can't they just Obliviate these memories?"

"No, they said that Obliviation isn't a foolproof plan because sometimes a person can remember fragments of erased memories and that'll just cause more damage. It's even riskier for me, I've got what Muggles call 'Hyperthymesia' and it means that I remember better than most people, I have a higher chance of remembering erased fragments of memories and that could hurt me more than remembering the whole thing." Aurelia explains quietly.

She takes a deep breath "When this thing happens, it doesn't feel like it's a memory, it feels real, like the werewolf or Gwen are actually back and trying to hurt me again. Sometimes I can't even tell if it's fake or not and it's so scary but — but I'm not crazy, Neville . . . I'm not crazy?"

Neville shakes his head quickly "You're not crazy, Ari."

Aurelia leans her head on his shoulder, shaking badly as she yawns: "I'm tired."

"Then you should get some rest, I'll walk you back to your common room." Neville says softly, helping her up.

She gives him a weak smile: "Thanks, Plant Boy."

* * *

"Are you always this miserable?" Noelle questions Aurelia, an annoyed look on her face.

"I'm not miserable." Aurelia disagrees, looking up from a book on mermaids.

"You've been miserable these past few weeks." Noelle whines, "You did horrible on this first task but you should be over that by now."

Aurelia frowns, mumbling: "I got first place."

"Doesn't mean you did good." Noelle hums.

Aurelia gives her a look, putting her book down "That's quite literally what it means."

Noelle looks shocked by her retort.

Aurelia goes back to researching; she knows what the second task entails (full pun intended!) and that's fucking mermaids! _Mermaids! Fucking wonderful_ , it's not like she's deathly afraid of water or anything!

She's fucked.

Elliot had heard from George that the egg screams and Elliot — being a Slytherin — knew that the egg had something to do with the mermaids in the Black Lake. He had been right, Aurelia had put the egg in water and it had stopped shrieking and started singing. The clue had been in the song; the mermaids, from what she got from the creepy song, are going to be stealing any important object from her.

Aurelia doesn't give a fuck if they take her ' _The Queen is Dead_ ' record from her, she's not stepping foot in that lake and Aurelia normally never lets anyone fuck with her and her _the Smiths_ ' albums.

She can't do this task, she's going to have to make an excuse to get out of it. The research is just in case they make her do it with a broken leg — yes, she's desperate enough to break her own leg just to get out of it.

She really can't stand water, it terrifies her.

Noelle hits her shoulder, hard "You're doing it. Again. Stop staring into space, I am talking to 'ou!"

"Sorry." Aurelia mumbles, "I've just been busy with the second task and I'm tryin' to figure out what I want to do with my hair and make-up for the ball."

Noelle snorts "You're not going to that stupid thing are 'ou?"

Aurelia's small smile turns right back into a frown "It's not stupid, it's the only good thing in this bloody tournament. I was goin' to ask if — if you wanted to go with me —"

"Why vould ve go together ven 'ou don't even want anyone knowing ve're dating?"

"Okay, fair enough . . . We — we could say we're goin' as friends. Please, Noelle, it'll be so much fun?"

Noelle rolls her eyes "Why do you not vant people to know 'ou are a lesbian!"

Aurelia's heartbeat quickens "I'm not a lesbian."

Noelle gives her a look and Aurelia mumbles meekly: "I'm bisexual."

"Bisexuality isn't real." Noelle says coldly, "You can't like two genders at the same time, 'ou can only like one."

"Actually lots of people are bisexual, it's very real. Thank you very much. Just because I don't want people to know I'm bisexual doesn't mean that I don't know that I'm bisexual." Aurelai says firmly.

Noelle looks equally impressed and annoyed.

"Do you want to go to the ball with me, it'll mean so much to me?" Aurelia tries again.

Noelle scowls at her "No, I don't vant to go to that stupid ball vith you and your ugly scars."

Aurelia's stomach drops as Noelle abandons her in the empty corridor. So, that's why Noelle doesn't want to go with her, it's because of her scars. Her ugly scars. _Oh_.

She wipes away angry tears as she gathers her books into her bag and decides to go sit with the Gryffindors for lunch today. Instead of eating alone like she's been doing a lot these past few weeks.

"What's the special occasion, huh?" Seamus asks as she takes a seat across from him, sarcasm drips from his tone.

Aurelia gives him a confused look "What're ye goin' on about?"

"You never sit with us anymore."

 _Oh, that_ — "I've been busy." Aurelia mutters, not in the mood for another fight.

Seamus repeats her words in a mocking tone, Neville scolds him for it but Aurelia thinks he shouldn't. Seamus isn't wrong, she hasn't been sitting with them as much, nor with her Hufflepuff friends. It's not because she's mad at them or because she's blowing them off for Noelle, which is what they think she's doing because Noelle always comes and finds her when she goes off on her own. Aurelia just wants to be alone. But, she understands why they're angry, she's angry at herself; why is she like this? What's wrong with her?

"And when you do sit with us, you're always so miserable, it makes us miserable." Seamus complains.

Her mouth runs dry "I —"

She doesn't understand why she's so miserable all the time, she doesn't want to be but she can't help it. Aurelia certainly doesn't wan to make her friends feel as miserable as she does.

Ginny plops down beside Aurelia "Hey, guys! Whatcha talking about?"

She fixes the three boys with a hard glare as she aims the question at Aurelia.

Aurelia sniffles "Oh, we're just talk — talking about the Yule Ball."

Ginny's eyes light up "Oh, how lovely. I can't go but I'd love too, it sounds like it's going to be loads of fun!"

"It's the best part of this tournament!" Aurelia tells Ginny, a small smile growing on her face.

Neville's glad that she's smiling about something. He misses her smile.

He just wishes that he could go to the ball with her but she's no doubt going with her stupid girlfriend.

"Maybe someone'll ask you. Or you could ask Harry. As friends, that is." Aurelia says.

Ginny shrugs, a light blush colours her cheeks "I think Harry's interested in Cho Chang —"

"Ooh, yikes. I know for a fact, she's goin' with Ced. They're a thing — sucks for Potter." Aurelia mutters, grabbing a muffin to snack on.

"Who are you going with?" Ginny asks and it's Aurelia's turn to shrug.

"Oh — I — it doesn't matter." Aurelia stammers, her cheeks go red as she makes her scars go away.

Ginny goes to pester her, believing that Aurelia has a date but Aurelia gets up and promptly leaves the Great Hall, Ginny wonders if she had said something wrong.

Seamus scoffs, "Don't worry, Ginny, she's been a miserable twat pretty much all year, you didn't do anything wrong."

"I'd be pretty miserable if I was chosen to compete in a tournament that I wanted to nothing to do with and after getting tortured and almost killed by a Death-Eater! Do you bloody expect her to be skipping everywhere she goes or are you just an insensitive twat?"

Neville feels a surge of gratitude for Ginny for protecting Aurelia.

"I —"

Ginny harshly glares at Seamus, calmly saying: "If I ever hear you giving Blue a hard time like that again, you'll regret it."

She then smiles, getting up and leaving the table. Neville gets up and follows her.

"Hey, Ginny, can — can I ask you something?"

* * *

Aurelia doesn't like this feeling — the feeling of feeling nothing at all. Nothing excited her anymore, not her friends, not the Yule Ball, absolutely nothing. All she feels is a dull ache of sadness that rarely goes aways. Occasionally she'll have moments where she feels happy but they're so fleeting.

It's gotten so bad she skips Potions to go see Madam Pomfrey, who confirms that Aurelia has Depression but there's very little she can do to help. Aurelia's best bet is to get Muggle treatment as soon as she can. Madam Pomfrey gives her a pass for the rest of her classes, she assumes that Aurelia's Depression is caused by the stress she's under.

Aurelia cries as soon as she's out of the Hospital Wing, she had hoped that there'd be nothing wrong with her. No wonder her parents never loved her, she's too flawed to be a good daughter — _there's always something wrong with me._

Noelle's right, no one's gonna want to go to the ball with her; not with her scars and not with the fact she looks and feels so miserable all the time.

It scares her how empty she feels about the Yule Ball now, she had been so looking forward to it, so excited to be the fucking dancing queen (even though she's not seventeen yet) of the Yule Ball and now there's nothing. Aurelia just wants it to be over and done with.

Earlier this afternoon, after being rejected by Noelle, the first person she had thought to ask was Neville. _As friends, of course. Totally platonic_. But, she had gotten distracted by Seamus.

So, Aurelia decides to ask him after classes. When the time comes for the task to be dealt with, she becomes a mess.

Neville looks so happy to see her when she enters the greenhouse where he's tending to some plants.

"Hello, Ari!" He greets her happily, smiling so wide. Her heart hammers in her chest.

His smile is like the sun, it's so bright and warm. _Merlin, he's lovely_!

Aurelia blushes "Hey — hey — hi."

His grin widens, he too blushes "Hi."

Aurelia bites her lip nervously, _its' not like he's going to say no, he doesn't mind your scars_ — "Neville — I — uh, do you want to go to the ball with me — as friends!"

Neville frowns.

 _Oh, no_!

"I can't —"

"I'll hide my scars! Please, I — I can't go alone." Aurelia pleads.

Neville nearly drops a plant in his haste to grab Aurelia's hands.

"It's got nothing to do with your scars. You never have to hide them. I'd love to go with you, I want to go with you but — but, well, I've asked —"

"Hannah?" Aurelia sighs sadly.

"No! I don't like Hannah! I — I — not like that!"

 _I like you, you daft egg! You oblivious fool! You buffoon_ —

Aurelia rips her hands from his at his declaration but she quickly realises that Neville wouldn't use those insults even if they weren't used in a hurtful way. She had heard his thoughts.

 _Oh, no_!

"What?" Neville asks, concerned.

 _He likes me_ , she thinks, _oh, fuck! He actually likes me_.

And then, she cries because _why the fuck_ does he _like-like_ her?!

She'd thought it'd be nice for Neville to return her feelings but now that he does, she feels panicked. She can't understand why he likes her.

"Why?" Aurelia blurts out, panic evident in her voice.

"Why what?" Neville asks, his tone matching hers because _what did he do_?!

"Why do you like me?" Aurelia sniffles.

Neville blushes, holding her hands tightly as he wonders what she means by 'like'.

"Because you're my best friend —"

"No . . . Why do you like-like me?"

"Oh, is it that obvious?"

 _When you have Legilimency_? Aurelia thinks, _yes_. But, she feels bad that she'd heard his thoughts so she just nods and smiles shyly.

Neville turns bright red but he confidently answers: "Because, you see me. You don't see me for my parents, you don't expect me to be like anyone but myself. And I see you, really see you for who you real — really are not how others or how you see yourself. You're wonderful and kind and amazing and so — _so_ smart. I like you because you're you."

Her heart hammers painfully in her chest as she lets out a goofy, girlish giggle — he fucking likes her!

And, she really likes him.

 _Oh, shit_.

She _really_ , _really_ likes him — _I've got to break up with Noelle_!

"Ari?" He questions nervously, her lack of response, despite the happy expression on her face, is unnerving.

"Uh, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool." She says, finger-gunning him, "Excuse me a moment!"

Then she bolts right out of the greenhouse.

"Oh, no?"

* * *

Aurelia's witnessed her fair share of break-ups and they've ranged from good, to bad, to ugly but she's never, ever seen a break-up fail.

She whimpers as Nolle grips her wrist tightly, she tries to pull away but Noelle's too strong for her.

"You're breaking up with me?" Noelle demands acidly.

"You're hurting me!" Aurelia spits, her tone matching Noelle's. She inhales sharply as Noelle's red-painted nails dig into her flesh.

"Vhat makes you think 'ou can break up with me?" Noelle laughs coldly, "Are 'ou mad I won't take your pathetic, scarred-face self to the ball, huh, _Wolfie_? Did I hwurt your feelwings?"

"What did you just call me?!" Aurelia panics, she remembers Goyle — _oh, no! Oh, no_!

"You don't get to break up with me." Noelle growls, "And, certainly not for some lump of a boy —"

"Don't you dare talk about Neville like that!" Aurelia snarls, hair turning bright red.

"Honestly, Aurelia, what on Earth makes 'ou think he is vorth it?"

"He likes me and I like him and I didn't — don't want to string you along."

Noelle's grip tightens "You actually think he likes 'ou — oh, Aurelia, that's demented! Even that dope can do better than 'ou! Look at you, 'ou think that he is impressed! Ha, he doesn't like you —"

"He told me —"

"He's lying! Please, 'ou naive bitch! 'Ou are a Black. He doesn't like you!"

Noelle laughs at the horrified expression on Aurelia's face.

"Oh, don't think I don't know about your family history. I have done my research! He doesn't like 'ou. At best, he's only friends vith 'ou to make sure 'ou don't go off your rocker like your cousin and aunt did. And at the vorst, he's using 'ou for revenge, he vants to destroy your heart like your aunt destroyed his parents."

"No, Neville —"

"You're safer with me. I wouldn't hurt you."

"You're hurting me right now and Nev — Neville wouldn't do that." Aurelia snaps, "Now let me go."

"You don't get to break up vith me. Do you understand. I'll go to the ball vith you, if that'll make you happy, I suppose I'm obligated to as who else will, but you must hide those ugly scars of yours." Noelle instructs, letting go of Aurelia.

Aurelia scowls but a part of her thinks Noelle's right, aside from Neville who else would _actually_ want to go with _her_? She bows her head, muttering: "Okay."

Noelle smirks, kissing Aurelia's cheek "It's a date then."

Aurelia's stomach twists painfully as she agrees distantly: "It's a date."

* * *

The Yule Ball is here before she knows it. Despite the fact it's Christmas, she's still sad — _who the fuck is sad on Christmas Day? Is this Depression Really that bad_?! Aurelia even finds herself dreading the event. What if Noelle doesn't like her dress? What if Noelle thinks she's a shit dancer?

Aurelia's in a bad place, she's ninety percent certain that Noelle's abused her but she's scared to admit it, she's scared of Noelle. It doesn't feel right anymore, she doesn't want this relationship but Noelle won't let her go.

Her dorm mates, Nat and herself had hauled themselves up in the Gryffindor girl's dorm to get ready for the ball. They'd been invited by Lavender who wanted help from Nat, who not only is the queen of art but the queen of make-up as well.

"You're a real life saver, Wilkes," Lavender's saying, "I could never do this on my own and neither could Parvati — er, your friend's crying."

Nat sounds exasperated as she replies: "Yeah, she does that a lot. What's wrong, Blue."

"My dress doesn't fit me right, I left my magic foundation in our dorm and my brain's far too scattered for me to completely hide my scars." Aurelia sighs, sniffling. She'd lost an unhealthy amount of weight in the past two months.

"Here, let me shrink it, I know just the charm." Hermione supplies while Lavender suggests:

"Instead of hiding them it'd be so cool if you put little flowers over them — ooh, or on both your cheeks like blush! Oh, that'd look so cute, it'd be perfect for your dress! Sparkly white flowers with sparkly yellow centres — can you see it! Oh, it'd be bloody adorable!"

The look on Nat's face tells Aurelia she had seen it. Once Nat's finished with Lavender's make-up she moves onto Aurelia to create the masterpiece Lavender had just created.

Across the crowded dorm, Olivia's helping Hannah braid her hair while Hannah helps Hermione with her hair.

Hannah and Nat are going together as friends and Olivia's going with Luna Lovegood — an odd pair if you asked Aurelia but Ginny had set it up after she had to reject Olivia's proposal to the ball.

Ginny's going with Neville, he had asked her as friends after she had defended Aurelia from Seamus, it'd been his way of thanking her since she'd really wanted to go to the Yule Ball.

Lavender gushes over the ball, ecstatic comments are thrown around as they hurry to get ready. Ginny enters, wearing a floor-length, pale pink dress that Aurelia swears compliments her skin-tone perfectly.

"Oh, Ginny, ye look lovely!" Aurelia exclaims, Nat scolds her for moving.

Ginny blushes "Thank you and thank you for buying it for me."

Aurelia waves her off "No biggie, I thought it'd be much more fun for ye to buy a dress than for your mum to surprise ye with one."

"Fun is having to hold you back from clocking the salesperson for giving me that dirty look." Ginny laughs.

The others laugh as well and Parvati offers to do Ginny's hair. Parvati's good with hair, she'd done Aurelia's hair and Aurelia's very impressed with it — she's turned a section of her hair into a braided crown and left the rest in curls. Aurelia felt like princess with the hairdo.

Nat finishes with Aurelia's make-up, she backs away and gives her friend a thoughtful look before taking her wand and casting a spell that conjures up little daisies in Aurelia's hair.

"Thanks, Nat! Now, should I go with a natural colour or stick with my normal blue?"

"Oh, love! Blue hair is like your thing." Lavender says, "Go with blue but I'd go with a lighter blue to match your dress!"

* * *

"Champions over here!" Professor McGonagall calls out but still, Noelle's nowhere in sight.

All the other champions have gathered with their dates but Aurelia stands timidly by herself.

"Miss. Black, where's your date?"

Aurelia feels small under McGonagall's hard gaze, stammering: "I — I don't know. I — I think I've been stood up."

McGonagall's gaze softens "The champions must have the first dance, it is tradition. Is there anyone you can dance with —"

"Neville Longbottom." Aurelia answers without hesitation, "That is if his own date can still attend."

McGonagall pales "Yes, yes, Miss. Weasley can still attend, you only need Mr. Longbottom for the opening dance. I'll go collect him now."

Aurelia feels both relieved and embarrassed that Noelle had stood her up. On one hand, she feels like she's done something wrong and that she's a shit date and on the other, she doesn't have to worry about being pretty enough for Noelle and she gets to dance with Neville.

McGonagall returns with a beaming Neville in tow. He stumbles over to her and they link arms as he asks if she's alright.

She beams back at him, her cheeks grow hot as she replies: "I'm alright, I get to be a dancing queen with you."

The champions are brought up to the top table, Percy offers her a seat next to him then does the same for Harry. Percy goes on about a promotion and normally Aurelia'd listen but now she's too busy stealing glances at Neville — he looks _so_ cute in his dress robes!

"You look beautiful, Ari." Neville says breathlessly but loudly, looking as though he'd struggled to get those words out.

"You look pretty." Aurelia mumbles shyly, blushing.

"Oh — I — uh." Neville stammers then giggles quietly.

Dinner passes quickly and then it's time for the first dance. Neville wipes his sweaty palms on his pants before offering one for her to take.

He nervously places a hand on her waist, grabbing ahold of her one hand as he rambles: "I've been practicing dancing for a while, I'm afraid that I'm not very good at it and even though I tried really hard to get better, I don't think I improved that much and I hope you won't mind tha —"

Aurelia squeezes his shoulder "Neville, not to be rude but, shut and dance with me — we can be dancing queens together."

"Wouldn't I be a dancing king?"

Aurelia looks him dead in the eye "No. There are only dancing queens."

Neville grins goofily and then spins her a little too fast for the slow, mournful song the Weird Sisters begin to play.

McGonagall and Sprout give them reproachful looks, they stifle their giggles onto their shoulders as they slow down.

They begin to waltz gracefully across the dance floor. Neville's a surprisingly good dancer, not that Aurelia would've cared if he wasn't. She likes dancing with him regardless of the fact he occasionally steps on her feet.

 _It's nice_ , she loves being this close to him, _it's comforting_ , she likes the feeling of his racing heart against her chest, she wonders if he can feel her heart race too? She squeezes his hand as he spins her around. _This is nice_. Aurelia smiles and buries her face into the crook of his neck, pulling herself closer to him. _This is right_.

Neville spins her around, Aurelia hums along to the song and he smiles at her. She could get used to this, if she could learn to believe she deserved this then she could really get used to this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe I had Nevari™ confess their feelings (even though it was technically just Neville cause Aurelia literally just forgot to tell him that she likes him back oops) for each other only twenty chapters in. Are things moving a bit fast here or is that just me lol? This Yule Bale is a lot less hectic than it was in the OG Make Them Gold (for example: Aurelia clocks Seamus in the nose, which was iconic,,, r.i.p) and I lowkey feel bad but at the same time I just wanted to give Nevari a nice, soft moment before I throw them into a whirlpool of chaos and angst. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated! I would also really, really appreciate it if you could let me know what you thought of it! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and if you could, please leave a review on the chapter!


	23. | XXI: ❝the Little Mermaid❞

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**CHAPTER xxi** ** _!_**  
the Little Mermaid

* * *

 **THEY SPENT THE ENTIRE NIGHT DANCING** , **THEY** hardly stopped at all being one of the last few couples to leave the ball. Aurelia had felt bad that she'd robbed Ginny of her date but Ginny'd insisted that it was totally fine — Aurelia's bloody certain that Ginny would've been fuming if she _hadn't_ of stolen her date.

None of their friends are letting them live this down though they insist they only went as friends — both of them are ignoring the fact that Neville had confessed his undying crush on her. _Merlin forbid, their friends find out about that_.

Unsurprisingly, Seamus is the worst, making kissy faces at them at every possible moment and even Dean had joined him. The two act as if Aurelia and Neville are the only people in their friend group with obvious crushes, Aurelia had seen the two of them sneaking in a slow dance. How the tables will turn when she pulls that card on them, Aurelia's just got to find the perfect moment to do so. She thinks she'll save that one for the perfect moment.

It's been a few days since the Yule Ball now, Aurelia sits with Cedric, the pair were looking for spells that'll help them with the upcoming task. The Bubblehead Charm had caught Cedric's attention while a spell that breaks bones had caught hers.

"Do you think Harry got my hint?" Cedric wonders, pulling out his wand to practice the charm.

Aurelia snickers "No offense, Ced, but 'go take a bath, it'll help you think' doesn't sound like a hint, it sounds kinda gay."

Cedric blushes "Well, what's wrong with being gay?"

"Nothing _buuut_ , when you're giving a hint you might want to keep the gay undertones to a minimum."

He rolls his eyes "Well, I couldn't just come out and say it — bullocks."

"Was that a pun?" Aurelia teases.

He scowls "Shut up, you know what I meant."

"Nah, not really. Champions are free to divulge information with each other, it's getting information from others that's frowned upon. You could've just come right out and said it."

"Why didn't you tell Harry then, huh?"

"Ellie was the one who told me, he heard from George what the egg did so I figured Ellie had told Harry first." Aurelia says, "But, apparently not — do you think they'd make me do this with a broken leg?"

Cedric gives her a look "Blue, you've got to do this whether you like it or not."

"Okay, _mum_." Aurelia huffs, "Honestly, the next thing I know you'll be telling me to clean my room."

"Well, when was the last time you cleaned your dorm?" Cedric teases.

"Oh no!" Aurelia exclaims, hair turns black as she hides her face behind a book.

Cedric blinks, looking around the room only to spot Noelle walking by. He scowls, nudging Aurelia "Isn't she the one who stood you up?"

"Yes, now shut up. Tell me when she's gone."

It's a few minutes before Cedric's nudging her and telling her Noelle's left. Aurelia looks up, sighing in relief. She hasn't seen or talked to Noelle since the day before the ball. She's confused as to what Noelle's tactics are, she'd abused (Aurelia's pretty sure, looking back on it now, that she can use this word) her into staying together only to leave Aurelia stranded on the night of the Yule Ball.

Cedric asks why she doesn't call Noelle out for her actions and in return Aurelia asks why he can't mind his own business.

He gives her a look, teasingly telling her: "Don't take that tone with me, missy!" the more seriously he adds: "I don't like when someone treats my friends like trash and I don't like when nothing is done about it."

"There's nothing to say about it, Ced." Aurelia tells him softly, "I'm not at all bothered by being stood up, I am a little confused but I'm not angry enough to say anything . . . Don't give me that look, it's true, I don't care that much, I'm going to save my breath this time . . . Merlin, knows I'm gonna need it for this bloody task."

She really doesn't care — or rather, she doesn't care enough. Aurelia feels very blankly about this whole matter, she knows and wants to feel more about it but she just doesn't. Perhaps, it's because she doesn't care all that much about Noelle, she liked the girl enough before they started dating, Aurelia was definitely attracted to her but after they started dating, anything Aurelia'd felt for the girl soon left. Perhaps, it's due to her Depression, she's not sure if Depression can do that to a person. Aurelia doesn't know much about Depression other than the fact that it makes her sad all the time no matter what's going on so she's not sure if that theory's possible.

Whatever the reasoning behind her feelings — or rather the lack of, Aurelia doesn't want to talk about it. She doesn't think there's anything to talk about and the fact that Cedric does irritates her. _He means well_ , Aurelia knows that but the irritation bubbling beneath her skin is almost overwhelming, _he always does this and you've never cared before; why now_? She holds back her irritation the best she can, Cedric doesn't deserve to be snapped at for what she knows is his normal behaviour. _He's only trying to help_.

Aurelia takes a deep breath, shutting her book — _what the fuck is wrong with you_?! — _that's enough research for today_ , Aurelia thinks.

"Well," Aurelia says, gritting her teeth at Cedric's worrisome look and standing up, "I've had enough of watching you practice that bloody charm, I think I'll go and clean my room now, _mother_."

The joke rolls off her tongue, sounding funny to her but Cedric laughs.

"Don't lie to me, young lady! You're going to see Neville Longbottom, aren't you?!" Cedric teases right back.

Aurelia sticks his tongue out at him but her reddening cheeks betray her.

* * *

A week later, Aurelia sits in the Gryffindor common room after returning from a trip to Hogsmeade. She'd spent most of it in the company of Mae and Remus, who had offered her all the support and comfort they could but their efforts were for nothing because literally nothing can comfort Aurelia when it comes to that. Then after Remus and Mae left, she went and hung out with Neville and Viktor; he finally got to try Butterbeer.

It's not uncommon for Aurelia to stay in the Gryffindor common room, she even knows most of the passwords, it's like a second house to her. No one bats an eye at the blue-haired girl in the Hufflepuff Quidditch sweater, legs dangling over Neville's lap in front of the fire.

"How's the second task coming along?" Neville wonders, placing a flower crown on Aurelia's head. In response, Aurelia sighs dramatically.

"That bad, huh?" He chuckles.

She sighs again.

"Any way I can help?"

"Bust my kneecaps." Aurelia replies dryly.

Neville gives her a horrified look "Why, I — wait! You can break your kneecaps?!"

"You — you didn't know that?"

"No!"

"Oh. Well, I've heard it's actually very painful."

"Then why would you ask me to do that?!"

"It'd get me out of doin' this task."

"You can't be seriously thinking of breaking your bones to get out a bloody task! Bones take forever to heal!" Dean calls from the couch.

Aurelia glances at him "Well, with magic it'll take days at most to heal and that's all I need."

Dean gives her a horrified look, asking if she's actually contemplating breaking her legs, Aurelia only smiles at him.

"Is the second task really gonna be that bad?" Neville asks worriedly.

Aurelia leans over and whispers what the next task is into his ear. Neville grows pale, he knows how much she hates water.

"I — I could get you some Gillyweed, Lyra's got some in her Potions room at home." Neville whispers.

"Thanks, Plant Boy, but I've got it covered." Aurelia whispers back, smiling gratefully.

"Hey, love-birds, mind sharing with the rest of us?!" Seamus grumbles from his spot next to Dean on the couches.

Before Aurelia has a chance to retort, Dennis comes bounding over, looking extremely giddy.

"I know what you are — a _Metamorphmasis_!"

He's _too_ cute to correct, Aurelia just nods and smiles.

"Wow! Is it true that you can turn into a boy?!"

Aurelia nods and Seamus snorts in disagreement "No, you can't! You've never done that!"

She narrows her eyes "Yes, I can."

"Prove it!"

"I will!"

And, she does. It's been awhile since she's done it; give or take six years. It's a lot harder to do now, she's not as flat-chested as she used to be and Nym wasn't joking when she had said boobs are really hard to change. Even though Aurelia almost has no boobs to change, they still took the most concentration when she was trying to flatten and broaden her chest.

The last time, she remembers making herself into a boy she had been eight and wanted to play with Gregory Goyle and Adrien Wiltmire. As a child, she'd often make herself into a boy because she believed that it made her more like Draco, made her more lovable. It also became a joke between her and Draco, they convinced, Crabbe, Goyle, and Wiltmire that they were triplets and it went on for a rather long time.

"There I did it! I'm a real boy now!" Aurelia says, giving Seamus a pointed look.

Seamus doesn't retort, he's staring at Aurelia, slack-jawed and Dean is too.

"No one says what I can or cannae do." Aurelia says, "Ye don't know what I am capable of, Finnigan."

Her voice is much much deeper and Scottish accent is much thicker.

Neville blanks completely as he studies Aurelia's new appearance, she — he? They? — looked much different than Neville had expected but still — still . . . He couldn't find the right word to describe it.

Neville turns red as Aurelia shoots him a very charming grin. Aurelia brushes her light brown curls from their face, their jawline is sharper, skin paler but it's more pink than peachy, their freckles had seemed to multiply; decorating their skin like stars. Aurelia's lips are thinner (Neville would like you say he didn't stare at her? His? Their? Lips often but that'd be a bloody lie) and their eyes a darker blue, Aurelia's hair is shorter, curlier, and a bit darker than its' natural colour.

Aurelia still looks pretty.

 _Oh sh_ — Neville swallows thickly, Aurelia's _still_ pretty . . . _So_ pretty.

Dennis bombards her with a whole load of questions and Aurelia tries to answer them as best as she can.

Neville struggles to breathe; Aurelia's still pretty even as a boy! What does that mean?! Merlin! Is he gay? No, he can't be gay because he finds Aurelia pretty as a girl as well — _maybe you're bisexual_! _My mum was bisexual, Aurelia's bisexual_! He's not sure, he's never paid much attention to boys except for maybe Elliot Burke but Neville's certain that everyone's paid attention to him at least once in their life.

 _Or, you're bisexual and you've got a type_!

Neville's not all that bothered by his possible new found sexuality, his gran would be okay with it, everyone on his father's side would be. It's his mother's side he'd have to worry about, they're not very accepting but he rarely sees them. The only person he sees on his mother's side his is Great Uncle Florean but even then their visits are quite rare. Uncle Florean would be okay with that as he's the one who took care of his mother after her parents shunned her (not disowned, they didn't go that far, so they say) when she came out as bisexual.

"No — no, it's not easy — no, I cannae do that but Nym can — I — I don't mind being a boy, it's hardly any different from being a girl, although I do prefer being a girl 'cause it takes less concentration, I mean, I sup — suppose if I keep practicin' then turnin' myself into a boy would hardly take any effort — yes, I've done this before! When I was a wee thing, I convinced Crabbe, Goyle, an' Wiltmire that I had 'nother brother named Aurelius." Aurelia replies, still struggling to answer Dennis' onslaught of questions.

"Aurelius?" Seamus laughs, "That's way too close to your name, your parents would never do that!"

"They bloody would —" Aurelia stops herself, remembering that Bellatrix had apparently named her.

 _Oh_.

Something heavy settles on her chest, she feels her concentration giving way and she quickly refocuses it on keeping her ability in check but her hair still turns a blueish-grey colour.

"What did I say now?" Seamus groans, annoyed.

Aurelia blinks "Huh? Oh, not — nothin', I just got . . . Really dizzy for a moment I haven't done this for awhile. It's really strainin' 'specially since I went all out this time."

"All out?" Dennis echoes, "I — Is it really that hard?"

Seamus who had understood what Aurelia had meant, bursts out laughing and then Dean gets it, his eyes go wide, as he asks: "Did you — can you?"

"Go _big_ ," Aurelia winks, "Or go home."

Neville gets it now and he laughs nervously, blushing madly as he thinks: _How is Ari so pretty?! That wink — bloody hell_!

Dennis looks at them "What are you all laughing at?"

"Okay, why is no one asking the very important question here? Do I have to take one for the team?" Seamus is laughing so hard, it's almost impossible to understand him.

Poor little Dennis still hasn't caught on "What question?"

Seamus takes a deep breath then screams: "HOW BIG IS YOUR DICK?!"

Neville and Dean laugh loudly as Aurelia looks Seamus dead in the eye and bluntly says:

"Bigger than yours."

There's only hours left. Only mere hours left until the second task and Aurelia's freaking the fuck out, she's got to do it. She's got no choice, she can't bring herself to break her own leg, and believe her, she really tried. This leaves her no choice but to enter the Black Lake. If she drowns, she's coming back to haunt the fuck out of Albus Dumbledore, it's his ruddy fault that she's in this mess.

Aurelia shakes in fear as she ties her white hair up with a yellow scrunchie, the worst part is she's got no idea what's been stolen from her.

With a select few items such as her records, her stuffed yellow rabbit she's had seen she was a little baby (his name is Raymoo and she'd literally sucker-punch a mermaid for taking him), and her Invisibility Cloak — all of which have been left untouched — nothing else she owns has any value to her, they're replaceable. She doesn't want to sound conceited but she's a rich bitch and she can buy everything she owns three times over. They're material items, she wouldn't 'sorely miss' any of those things.

She wonders if the person in charge of the second task had forgotten her object, perhaps Bagman's orchestrating this round, that'd be a likely theory. He always seems to forget she's in this tournament.

Nothing I own really means anythin' to me." Aurelia groans to Susan.

Susan spits out a mouthful of toothpaste , she gives Aurelia a passive look "What about that necklace? Y'know that moon one you always wear?"

Susan's onto something, although Aurelia doesn't care about the necklace anymore, she reckons that it'd be the perfect candidate for her sorely missed object as she, for the longest time, would always wear it. She hasn't worn it in months and no one's noticed except for Neville. _That must be it!_

It's not it.

The necklace is right where she hid it, buried in the bottom of her trunk "Nope!"

"Invisibility Cloak?"

"Already checked, it's right where I left it!"

"Freddie!"

Aurelia pales, she hadn't seen Freddie all morning "Freddie?! Freddie Purrcury?!

There's a scuffling sound as Freddie scrambles like a bat out of hell from under Aurelia's bed and rushes to her. The sleek black cat's back is arched high in the air as he scans the dorm for any signs of a threat to his owner. Aurelia sighs, reaching down to stroke Freddie's head.

"Hey there, killer king. I was looking for ye . . . Had me worried for a minute." Aurelia mumbles and Freddie relaxes into her touch, realising there's no threat he lets out a purr.

"Nope, he's here. . . I'm goin' to head down to the Great Hall, see if Neville's got any ideas. I'll see ye after the task."

* * *

Neville isn't in the Great Hall and he doesn't show up to any of their shared classes, which causes Aurelia to worry. A lot. No one knows where he is or where he went, she wanted to test out her spell one last time before the task but she passes that opportunity to go find Neville. He's never disappeared like this, something must be very wrong.

She brushes off Noelle who finally attempts to speak with her — she's got to find Neville. She brushes off having lunch, and she almost brushes off Professor Sprout but she hadn't been able shake the older woman who had come to take her to the Black Lake.

Halfway there, Abigale Montgomery comes skipping up alongside of Aurelia, the Slytherin is wearing a beaming grin on her round, tan face. Abigale brushes her wavy, brunette hair out of her eyes as she greets Aurelia.

"Wotcha, Malfoy!"

"Hello, Montgomery." Aurelia says flatly.

"You like D&D, Audrey Hepburn, Fangoria, Harry Houdini, and croquet. You can't swim, you can't dance, and you don't know karate. Face it, you're never gonna make it."

Aurelia gives her an annoyed look "I don't wanna make it, I just wanna —"

Abigale cuts her off, laughing loudly: "Oh, my God! I — I — I didn't think you'd act — actually respond with — with that!"

"What the fuck?"

Abigale grins "It's a ref — reference from the future. Not sure what it's from or when it'll make to you but it's been in my head all morning. I thought it was perfect for your current situation."

Aurelia glares at her, Abigale giggles then turns on her heel as she leaves, she calls out: "Good luck." over her shoulder.

Sprout and Aurelia continue on their way down to the Black Lake, she's ushered over to the Judge's table where she's greeted by Cedric. He pats her shoulder reassuringly and she asks if he's up to breaking her legs; he's not — _some friend, huh_?

Fleur and Viktor give her pitiful looks but don't dare approach her, knowing that would only elicit a twenty minute long rant on how much she entirely loathes water and no one is in the mood to listen to that. Harry's nowhere to be seen, which means he's verging on being late.

Percy Weasley approaches her, he's here in Crouch's place, it seems.

"Are you alright, Blue?" Percy asks quietly, he rarely uses that nickname; he must be feeling particularly sympathetic today.

Percy, like the rest of Weasley siblings found out the hard way that she hates water. Fred had tossed her in a fairly deep pond alongside Ginny and Aurelia had lost her shit. At first the twins, Ron, and Ginny had thought she was just being dramatic until Percy had jumped in to save her. He ended up getting punched in the nose because she had been flailing so much.

Aurelia smiles brightly at him, tears burning her eyes.

"Thought so." Percy mumbles as Aurelia starts to cry.

"I can't do this," Aurelia tells him, "I can't, Perce, this is just too much. It's not worth it."

His eyebrows shoot up "I would've thought you'd think rescuing Longbottom was quite worth it."

Aurelia goes pale, they took Neville — _those fuckers_!

Somehow 'too much' just tripled. They can't expect her or Harry to be responsible for someone's life. They're much too young for the competition and they're definitely too young to be saving a person's life as part of a game.

She knows that this wasn't permanent, she figured that at the end of the task she'd get whatever object they took from her back whether she rescued it or not but now this object is a person. _A bloody person_.

So many things could go wrong with this.

It's too much, what if Neville _dies_ because of her. _Oh, Merlin_! Then she'd be just like her aunt.

"Oh no." Percy mumbles.

"Oh fuck." Aurelia mumbles.

Percy rambles nervously on about how he thought she knew what the task held for her, he's mortified. Aurelia's internally panicking, she can't do this but she can't not do this.

Even if Neville's not going to be lost underwater forever, she can't just not rescue him. He'd do the same for her, she knows he would. She's got to be brave for her best friend.

Aurelia glares down at the water, she's going to kick the lake's ass and — _oh_ , _Merlin_ , the thought of being submerged under those dark waves is nerve wracking. It's been so long since she's swam, does she even remember how to? That water is deep and dark and dangerous. Those mermaids could tear her apart with a blink of her eye, she doesn't stand a chance.

"I can't do this!" Aurelia blurts out.

She can see it, it's blurry but she can see it. _Gwendoline's face in front of hers, but there's something wrong with her face_ — _it's contorting in Bellatrix's face but within seconds it's back to her own and it repeats over and over and over and over —_

"Yes, you can. Have you got a plan?"

 _Gwendoline coos gently, reaching out for Aurelia and there's the sound of running water in the distance and it gets blurrier as the reddish room swirls around_ in her mind and then next thing she knows is she can't breathe. There's something filling her nose, her mouth. Suffocating her.

"Aye, I've got a plan." Aurelia swallows thickly.

"And you've gone over every possibility?"

"Aye, naturally — every logical and illogical possibility there is."

She had but those possibilities had changed now that it's Neville down there. So many things could go wrong.

Percy glances around nervously before whispering: "Don't take the clue too —"

"Literally? I figured as much, I didn't think they'd let the mermaids keep the objects forever or at least I had hoped they wouldn't but now that I know that they took Neville, I know that song was all bark and no bite."

Aurelia's got to do it, it's the right thing to do.

"If I die, Perce, I'm comin' back to haunt Dumbledore and Bagman's asses. If anythin' happens to Neville, ye better be ready to bail me out of Azkaban." Aurelia tells him, only half-joking.

"You won't die." Percy assures, "You'll do good."

Aurelia hugs him tightly but because Percy's technically at work, he doesn't hug her back. He pats her back awkwardly as she thanks him quietly.

Harry arrives a few moments later, he's very late and Percy shrugs Aurelia off him to go scold Harry. Aurelia has a moment of horrid dread, realising that the second task will be starting shortly.

All too quickly the task is starting, Bagman (after he does his stupid, unfair little check up with Potter that is) counts to three to begin the task. The whistle echoes shrilly in the cold, still air and Aurelia feels numb. She hasn't even entered the freezing water yet and it feels as though her limbs are completely frozen.

Aurelia stiffly presses her wand to her throat, muttering her spell and it feels like sandpaper is coating her throat; she hates that feeling. But, it works. She peels her outerwear off, leaving only black nylons and a tank top and with that she's diving towards the centre of the lake.

She absolutely hates this, the water is so bloody cold it feels as though it's burning her skin. She hates the feeling of her body being completely submerged under the water, it feels wrong, it feels dangerous. What if she never surfaces again?

She swims quickly, for someone who hates water, she can swim surprisingly well. Aurelia keeps an eye out for mermaids and Grindylows, she doesn't trust either of the creatures.

She swims for a long time, her nervous are fried by the time the song reaches her ears. It's the song from the egg, this means she's close to finding Neville. _Thank, Merlin_!

Aurelia swims faster, swimming past what must be a welcoming sign for the Mermaid village drawn on the rock. Crowds of merpeople have gathered to leer at her as she swims past and when she finds Neville, he's asleep — _must be nice_.

He, along with Cho Chang, Hermione, Ron, and Gabrielle Delacour are tied to a boulder of a merman. Harry's somehow already there but it appears he's got nothing to free Ron with.

Aurelia swims towards him and offers him a knife.

"Yoinked it from the kitchens this mornin'." Aurelia says as bubbles burst from her mouth, "Thought it'd be a good back-up plan in case my wand had trouble workin' underwater."

Harry who had been about to grab a sharp rock, takes the knife gratefully and heads for Hermione.

Aurelia pulls him back "NO!"

She points at Ron "Him, I think she's for Krum. Chang's for Ced, Gabrielle's for Fleur."

Harry stares at her for a moment, she prays that he's good at reading lips. A merman approaches them, he doesn't look very friendly and he tells Harry that she's right.

Harry argues with the merman and Aurelia swims up to Neville, she wants to get back up to the surface as quickly as possible.

She pulls out her wand "Diffindo!"

The chains holding Neville sever, and she begins to lug him out of there as Cedric swims into the view. Normally, Aurelia had no probably dragging Neville around but now he felt like he weighed a ton.

As she swims up to the surface, she narrowly dodges a Grindylow. However, lucky for her, the Grindylow had been heading for an overwhelmed Fleur.

Aurelia stops to help Fleur, which is no easy task. Especially when the Grindylows turn on her ("No, fuck off, I don't want to be part of your world!") and Neville but eventually she manages to get them away from Fleur.

She's now lugging an unconscious Neville and a very stubborn Fleur up to the surface. Fleur wanted to continue on with the task to rescue her sister and as much as Aurelia admired that, she thought the Fleur had been injured too badly to continue.

When she finally breaks the surface, Neville wakes up and she's never felt more relieved. She reverses the spell and begins to tug Neville and Fleur to shore.

She's not first, Cedric is. He's already halfway to shore with Cho Chang and surprisingly, Aurelia feels a wee bit dejected that she hadn't come in first.

❝ _My sister_!❞ Fleur shrieks angrily in French, ❝ _I can't leave her_!❞

Unexpectedly, Fleur dives back underwater and she takes Aurelia with her. Aurelia cries out in shock as water invades her nose and then her mouth. Panic fills every bone of her body and she sees Gwen\Bellatrix's morphing face leering at her — _No! No! NO_! — Neville pulls Aurelia back up and struggles to rein in Fleur.

Aurelia starts to cry, she hates, hates, hates water.

❝ _It's a ruse_!❞ Aurelia exclaims, clinging to Neville with one hand and the other to Fleur, ❝ _The song was bullshit, your sister will be fine! She won't be gone forever_!❞

She tugs them towards the shore, Fleur only calms down slightly as Aurelia continues to insist that no harm will come to Gabrielle.

They reach the shore just as Viktor appears with Hermione. Madam Pomfrey begins to fret over Aurelia and Neville, Fleur continues to fret about her little sister. Lastly, Harry breaks the surface with not only Ron but Gabrielle as well; much to Fleur's relief.

Aurelia feels numb both physically and mentally. _This is too much_. She can't do this any longer, she hates this tournament and she's not at all cut out for it.

She wraps her blankets around herself and leans against Neville, who takes his blanket and wraps it around both of them.

This tournament will be the death of her but, at least Neville is safe.

She feels something soft and warm press against her forehead and her heart skips a beat because she _thinks_ Neville just _kissed_ her forehead. Aurelia looks up at him and he's smiling almost cheekily at her and the sight makes her all tingly because it's such a cute sight.

"So, you sorely missed me, huh?"

Aurelia melts, if this had been a cartoon, she would've totally swooned right off her feet with a sigh. _Merlin, he's so lovely_.

"Perhaps." Aurelia mumbles teasingly, she feels so tired. Her eyelids are drooping and she can barely repress the urge to yawn.

"You did amazing, Ari." Neville tells her, beaming with pride.

Aurelia forces a smile on her face but she doesn't feel like she did amazing, she thinks she did a shitty job.

She almost didn't save him because she's scared of water — _how shitty can you be, huh_?

Neville pokes her nose softly, startling Aurelia — _this is new_? — he beams at her "You've got a cute nose, did you know that?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Nevari™ moment at the end of this chapter made me so soft. Like,,, Nev being a brave boi, turning the tables on Ari and being the cheeky one (albeit still a little shy) and I'm so in love with Nevari™ they're my soft, precious children. Poor Ari is going to need a therapist at the end of the year oof, can't wait for her to get the proper & professional help she needs to deal with her all her trauma and mental illnesses! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and if you could, please leave a review on the chapter!


	24. | XXII: ❝Foxtrot and Padfoot❞

****

**ACT i, CHAPTER xxii** ** _!_**  
Foxtrot and Padfoot

* * *

 **IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE SECOND TASK** , things get worse. Despite being tied in first with Harry, Aurelia feels horrible. Her performance during the second task didn't deserve such a good score (the highest score came from Dumbledore which is bloody shady!) but a lot of people seem to think she does. She's gained quite a following from saving Fleur from the Grindylows and Aurelia _knows_ that's a good thing but she doesn't _feel_ like it's a good thing — she just feels so overwhelmingly sad and tired.

 _This tournament_ , she's concluded, _is going to be the death of me._

When she had been selected, she had said she was too weak for this tournament and much too young. She couldn't handle the stress, she couldn't handle anything this tournament threw at her — mentally speaking. Aurelia's technically in first place so she's doing good but _she's_ not doing good.

Aurelia's bloody certain she's not going going to survive the next task — she's genuinely frightened she's going to die doing whatever the third task involves. _The third task is always the worst_.

And to add the cherry of bullshit on top of the sundae of fuckery that's now her life — Skeeter put out another article about her.

The article claims that her and Neville are dating and it included two photos of them that Aurelia can't exactly explain how Skeeter got them without coming up with a huge theory — she came up with two. Skeeter also attacked Hermione, the article about her is way worse than Aurelia's article.

Aurelia's beginning to wonder just how Skeeter is getting all this information, as far as she knows, Skeeter's been banned from school grounds.

Which leaves two possible theories: Invisibility Cloak or Animagus.

Skeeter being an Animagus is more likely; Dumbledore could've forgotten that fact, or perhaps her form was too small to spot, or perhaps she's an unregistered —

"Vell, Vell, Vell, if it isn't the little vhore."

Aurelia's blood runs cold at the sound of Noelle's voice.

"I'm not a whore." Aurelia tells her; she doesn't turn around, she's too afraid to face Noelle.

"Dating Longbottom vhile 'ou are dating me makes you a filthy-blooded vhore."

"I am Pureblood, thank you very much." Aurelia says defensively.

"Prejudice much?" Noelle teases maliciously.

"Says the one who called me filthy-blooded." Aurelia counters, turning to see that Noelle is stalking towards her.

Aurelia dumbly pushes herself into a corner to get away from Noelle, she quickly realises her mistake and moves to shoot past but, Noelle's arm shoots out faster and blocks her chance of escape.

"The article was fake an' even it if wasn't I technically did break up wit' ye." Aurelia says nervously.

Noelle laughs shrilly "And I told 'ou, you veren't going to and vhat did 'ou do? 'Ou obeyed like a filthy little mutt —"

"Get away from me."

Noelle's moving closer, Aurelia's pressed into the corner and she's trapped and she's terrified.

Noelle giggles "Aww, is the wittle baby scared of me?"

To stop her lower lip from trembling, she bites down on it and shakes her head. Aurelia stares defiantly at Noelle who giggles again, her brown eyes darkening as they narrow.

"Are you sure about that, my pet?" Noelle asks, breathless. There's a mad glint in her eyes that chills Aurelia to the bone.

Suddenly, Aurelia's painfully aware of Noelle's warm hand on her inner thigh. She inhales sharply "No!"

Noelle laughs coldly "Oh, _Aurelia Alice_ , you should know I don't take no for an answer."

Her hand slips just past the hem of Aurelia's skirt. Aurelia breathes heavily, gripping her wand tightly, she's got no choice but to use it.

"Well, that — that's too bad 'cause yer takin' it now — STUPEFY!"

The blast is so strong it knocks Noelle off her feet, she hits the ground with a satisfyingly loud thump. _That's what she deserves for putting her hands on me without permission_ , Aurelia feels so angry and so scared at the same time.

"Don't ye ever — ever touch me again or — anyone for that matt — matter!" Aurelia snarls as she draws herself up to her full height, "No means no an' I don't care if ye don't like that, ye ain't puttin' yer hands on me with — without my permission!"

Noelle's quick to recover, standing up in a blaze of fury. Much to Aurelia's surprise, Noelle's hair turns bright red.

"HOW DARE YOU STUN ME YOU FLITHY-BLOODED BITCH!" Noelle shrieks, drawing her wand, "CR — CONFRINGO!"

A blast of heat misses Aurelia's face by an inch, instead singing her hair and shoulder. She cries out in pain, stumbling to the side as she uses her wandless hand to brushes out any possible flames on her.

Noelle growls frustrated, her hair had returned to its' natural colour and Aurelia wonders if she'd just imagined it, she doesn't have time to ponder it as Noelle cries: "Flagrate!"

Aurelia's hit with a stream of fire that burns her arm badly, she screams "Sonofabitch — Flipendo!"

Noelle's knocked backwards and Aurelia flees.

She scampers down multiple corridors not slowing down until she runs into Harry.

Harry lets out a weird noise of surprise, stumbling backwards. When he gathers himself, he blinks multiple times and Aurelia assumes it's because of the state she's in.

A chunk of blackened hair, a singed shoulder, and a burned arm, she must look all sorts of weird.

"Er — your blouse is on fire." Harry says awkwardly, pointing at her burned arm.

"Oh, ri — ri — right." Aurelia struggles to catch her breath, she starts patting her burning blouse to extinguish the flames, wishing that she could properly do "Aguamenti'.

"Are you alright? You, er, don't look to good?"

"M'fine, m'fine. Just tryin' out some — some new spells."

"Then why are you crying?"

"When am I — I not crying, Harold?"

Harry opens his mouth then promptly closes it because she makes a fair point. He glances around then hands in her a bit of parchment "Er, it's from Padfoot — _Sirius_ — he wants to see you. He explains it in the letter. Just meet us in Hogsmeade and bring lots of food."

Aurelia reads the letter quickly, ignoring the pain in her arm and shoulder.

"Okay," Aurelia's nose crinkles in confusion, "But, why does he want me to come?"

The letter is pretty much just what Harry had told her, with a little _'P.S please bring Aurelia if you can'_ at the bottom.

Harry shrugs, he's just confused as she is. Aurelia thinks of every possible reason Sirius could want her to come — the best, the worst, and even worse Seamus being right!

"Ye reckon, he really is m'dad?" Aurelia asks, nervously. That possibility is between the best and the worst. It'd be bad because Seamus'd be right but it'd be good because Aurelia thinks Sirius would be a good dad. He'd be a dad that truly loves her.

Harry shrugs again "Well, er, I thought he might've been but Sirius hasn't really asked about you and if you were is daughter, I think he'd be on my case more about you. Er, and I reckon he would've told me by now. I think he, well, I think he just wants to see some of his family. As far as I know, you're the only family he has."

That's not true, he's got the Tonks but Aurelia's not certain if any of them know of his innocence, but it makes sense.

 _You're a Malfoy_ , she reminds herself, unloved and unwanted but, _a Malfoy nevertheless_.

"Are you alright?"

Aurelia nods, smoothing out her skirt as tears run down her flushed cheeks, her voices cracks as she says: "M'fine."

Harry either believes her or realises there's nothing he can do and bids her a good afternoon, suggesting she go to the Hospital Wing to treat her burn.

Aurelia nods, bidding him a good day but she doesn't go to the Hospital Wing. Going to the Hospital Wing would mean, Aurelia'd have to tell Pomfrey what happened and she doubts Pomfrey would believe her.

She feels sick.

No means no, it's such a simple lesson. An important lesson yet so many people don't understand it, she knows it's Noelle's fault. Noelle is the one who didn't listen, Noelle's in the wrong.

But, she feels dirty.

Aurelia feels dazed. The only sign that she's awake is the stinging on her arm and shoulder, she swallows thickly as her stomach twists violently.

If she hadn't fought back, just how far would Noelle have gone?

Aurelia ponders whether or not she should tell someone. She looks at the thin soon-to-be scar on her arm from where Noelle had hit her with 'Flagrate' and worries that Noelle might try something like that again with her — with someone else.

Aurelia had been lucky, she had been able to fight back but what if someone else can't because they're too scared or they don't see it coming all because Noelle can't take no for an answer like the shitty human being she is.

 _But, would anyone believe her_? She's got proof that she got in a duel with Noelle but none that proves Noelle sexually assaulted her. No one would believe her about that; Dumbledore — the only person in this school that can do anything about anything — never believes her. He never believed her when she came to him in literal tears telling him that her parents would disown (to be fair, they didn't disown her — she disowned herself — but they weren't bloody happy) her when she had been sorted into Hufflepuff. He never believed her when she told him that Snape was literally bullying Neville and many other students. And, he'd never believe her about this.

* * *

Neville Longbottom doesn't like to hate people. He doesn't like the feeling of his twisting guts or burning in his chest that comes along with hating someone. He doesn't hate a lot of people especially not people his own age but, Noelle Edwyn Godwin is an exception.

He's never hated someone he barely knows more than he's hated her. He's tried to like her because Aurelia liked her but he just couldn't bring himself too. When he had first met her, he'd been more jealous of Noelle than anything but jealously quickly turned to loathing as she started treating Aurelia rudely and then Noelle had went and stood Aurelia up which had been the final straw for Neville.

There's something not right about Noelle and he wanted her to go away. He couldn't wait for this school year to end, because not only did that mean Noelle leaving, it would mean Aurelia would be happy again.

She's been so sad and stressed because of the tournament and when the school year ends so does the tournament and Aurelia will no longer have to worry about it and she can go back to be being her happy, smiley self.

Neville smiles at the thought of Aurelia being happy again, he doesn't like when she's sad. He just wants her to be happy.

"Hey, Neville, have you seen Blue today?" Harry asks, entering the common room.

Neville looks up from his Transfigurations essay, shaking his head which earns a frown from Harry.

"Oh, never mind then."

"Why?"

"Well, she looked pretty bad early, she was on fire and she said that a spell backfired. I thought —"

"SHE WAS ON FIRE!" Neville exclaims, jumping up hastily.

Harry's eyes widen at Neville's loud reaction and he stammers: "Well, only a little bit."

"AND YOU JUST LEFT HER?"

"Her blouse was on fire but she put it out and I told her to go to the Hospital Wing."

"And you thought she'd just go?"

"Well, I —"

Neville shakes his head disapprovingly and Harry's shocked, he's never seen Neville act like this. It's odd.

Then again, Neville always acts odd when Aurelia's involved.

"I'm gonna go find her." He says, he looks very worried.

Aurelia could be anywhere in the castle, Harry thinks so he stops Neville from leaving and pulls out the Marauders Map.

Neville's too worried to question what Harry's doing or what he's using, in fact he seems to be a little irritated that Harry had stopped him. Harry quickly spots Aurelia on the map and she's not in the Hospital Wing.

"She's on the bridge." Harry informs Neville who's out the door before he can even finish the sentence. Harry tilts his head, wondering if Rita Skeeter actually wrote a true article, _are Neville and Blue more than friends?_

Neville hurries out of Gryffindor tower and down the corridor, he wonders what happened to Aurelia because he knows it's not a spell backfiring, Neville _knows_ Aurelia and he knows something bad happened to her.

He's out of breath by the time he reaches the bridge, Aurelia standing in the middle of it, leaning against one side of the rail. As he approaches her, he notices she looks very ill, her hair is white and she's clutching the the top of the rail with both hands to steady herself; she looks like she's about to hurl.

"Ari?" Neville calls out hesitantly but she doesn't respond.

He can tell she's heard him though, her hands fly up to her face as she furiously wipes at her face — she's crying.

He approaches her quicker "Ari, what's wrong? Ha — Harry told me you — you were burned, who bur — burned you."

Aurelia's lower lip trembles "Noelle. We — she — oh, we got in — into a duel because of Skeeter's art — article.

Neville loathes Noelle.

"But, the article wasn't real and even if it was why would she care, she stood you up like a . . . Like a _bitch_."

He whispers the words 'bitch' even though he believes Noelle is the biggest bitch to ever exist.

Aurelia buries her face into her hands and sobs loudly, sinking to the ground. Neville sits down next to her.

"How bad did she hurt you?" Neville asks softly, placing a hand on her thigh and she flinches away from his touch.

"She called me a whore . . . Then she cornered me, well, I cornered myself 'cause — 'cause I'm dumb but then I tried tae get away but she stopped me an' then . . . Then she touched me, I told her 'no' an' she told me she didn't care an' she kept goin' further and I managed tae grab my wand an' I stunned her. I was so angry I — I told her no. I did. But, she didn't care. How could she not care, no means no. An' I was so scared because what if I couldn't fight back how far would she have gone? An' she got _so_ angry wit' me an' she hit me with some kind of blasting spell but it missed an' then she hit me with 'Flagrate' an it hit my arm and then I knocked her backwards an' ran away. An' I've got no proof that she did that tae me an no one'll believe me an' —"

"I believe you." Neville says, he's shaking in anger but he does his best to keep his voice calm.

"I thought she was goin' to kill me for sayin' no." Aurelia whispers fearfully, pulling at the hem of her skirt.

"What do you want to do?"

"Huh?" Aurelia blinks.

"Do you want to tell someone?"

Aurelia shakes her head quickly, chewing on her lower lip.

"Okay," Neville says softly, "Is there anything you want to do?"

"I want to get some food." Aurelia says, recalling that she's going to need lots of food for Sirius by the Hogsmeade trip.

Neville nods, holding his hand out for her to take "Let's get some food then."

She grabs his hand and he pulls her to her feet.

"How much food do you reckon Sirius Black would eat?" Neville whispers and Aurelia looks at him in shock.

"How —"

Neville gives her an almost cheeky smile "Lyra. She's been telling me Sirius is innocent for years. She mentioned that he's in Hogsmeade and that I need to make some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches."

"And ye thought that cause I — I want to get food that it's for Sirius?" Aurelia questions, wiping away some stray tears.

"No, b — but it reminded me." Neville replies sheepishly.

"So, Lyra knows that Sirius is innocent?"

Neville nods "She's been trying to get him out of Azkaban for years."

Then Neville whispers in her ear that he knows Sirius escaped because he's an Animagus, Aurelia's surprised that Lyra had actually told him this.

"She's an Animagus too." He whispers, "She was best friends with Professor Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and James Potter and they made this thing, Harry's got it? Have you seen it?"

"The map?" Aurelia questions to which Neville nods.

"Yeah, that. She talks about that a lot — she's Foxtrot. It's a the name of a dance move but it's obvious what her Animagus form is, isn't it?"

Aurelia smiles softly.

* * *

By the time the Hogsmeade trip rolled around, Aurelia and Neville had made enough food to feed an army. Neville doesn't go with Aurelia because according to him, Lyra doesn't want Harry to know that Neville knows of Sirius' innocence. Which, doesn't make much sense to Aurelia but, then again, Lyra never makes sense to Aurelia so she doesn't question it. It's just her, Harry, Ron, and Hermione going to see Sirius.

The four of them make their way up the High Street, past Dervish and Banges, and out towards the edge of the village, Aurelia's sure none of them have ever been in this direction before. The winding lane leads them into the wild countryside around Hogsmeade, as they turn the corner Aurelia spots at the end of the lane, waiting for them, is a very large, shaggy black dog, which carries some newspapers in its mouth.

Aurelia knows at once that it must be Sirius Black. She realises she had seen him a few times last year, when he had wandered around the castle grounds. Aurelia had even given him half of her ham sandwich one time, believing him to be a starving stray. Still, Aurelia can't pass the chance to tease Harry as she recalls Divination from last year, she grabs ahold of Harry's shoulders.

"Oh, no!" Aurelia gasps in a loud whisper, "Harold, it's — it's the grim!"

The three roll their eyes, fond smiles are plastered on their faces, Harry shrugs Aurelia's hands off his shoulders and moves forward to greet Sirius.

"Hello, Sirius."

The black dog sniffs Harry's bag eagerly, wags its' tail once and turns, trotting away from them across the scrubby patch of ground that rises to meet the rocky foot of the mountain.

Aurelia groans quietly when she realises they have to climb up the mountain: "Well, fuck me gently with a chainsaw."

They follow after Sirius, who leads them up the mountain, where the ground is covered in boulders and rocks. It's easy for Sirius to climb, with his four paws, but the four of them are soon out of breath.

For nearly half an hour they climb a steep, winding, and stony path, following the black dog's wagging tail as they sweat up a storm underneath the sun. Aurelia's terrible dog puns do nothing to help the three Gryffindors but, Sirius seems to enjoy them, letting out barks in reply as though he's laughing.

Then, at last, Sirius slips out of sight, and when they reach the place where he had vanished, they see a narrow fissure in the rock. They squeeze through it, finding themselves in a cool, dimly lit cave. Tethered at the end of it, one end of his rope around a large rock, is Buckbeak the hippogriff.

"Wait, he's alive! Buckbeak's alive, God bless!" Aurelia whispers to Hermione, who nods.

"Yes, didn't Harry tell you, how else did Sirius get away?"

"I assumed on a broomstick, the little shit never mentioned Buckbeak!"

All four of them bow low to Buckbeak, after regarding them imperiously for a moment, Buckbeak bends his scaly front knees, giving them permission to pet him if they desire.

Aurelia gives Buckbeak a quick pat, cooing: "Aren't ye the goodest boy? Aye, ye are."

Then she turns her attention to her cousin, Sirius had transformed out of his Animagus state. Aurelia studies him for a moment, they look at lot alike — a tall build, skinny frame (which is probably due to malnourishment on Sirius' part), and the obvious Black family genetics. Aurelia looks more like Sirius than she does with her mum, dad, and brother. _Honestly, what the fuck is wrong with my genes?!_

"Chicken!" Sirius says hoarsely.

Harry hands him his bag of food, Aurelia removes her backpack that's full of food. She had also charmed it with one of her spells to preserve the food inside it, the spell had originally been created to preserve the flower crowns Neville makes her but by accident Aurelia discovered the spell can also preserve food.

The spell preserves flowers forever whereas it only preserves cooked food for months. But, Aurelia knows that it will be enough for Sirius even if it's not permanent, there's enough food in there to last Sirius about six months.

"Thanks," Sirius says to Harry, tearing off a large chunk of chicken with his teeth, "I've been living off rats mostly. Can't steal too much food from Hogsmeade; I'd draw attention to myself."

Aurelia hands him the backpack, stammering shyly: "Here, I — I taught myself the extension charm so there's a lot more food in there then you'd think. Also it's — it's preserved with a spell so the food will last you quite awhile before spoilin'. . . I'd say about six or seven months, so, uh, no more livin' off o' rats."

Sirius looks at Aurelia, his grey eyes go wide and he smiles softly at her "So you came, huh?"

Aurelia nods eagerly "'Course, I came — there's also a — uh, some clothes in there, Lyra gave them to me, well, uh, she gave them to Neville who gave them to — to me."

Sirius thanks her, tucking the backpack to the side as he grins at both Aurelia and Harry.

"What're you doing here, Sirius?" Harry asks, grinning reluctantly at Sirius.

"Fulfilling my duty as godfather, don't worry about it, I'm pretending to be a lovable stray." Sirius replies, gnawing on the chicken bone in a very doglike way.

Then, more seriously adds: "I want to be on the spot. Your last letter . . . Well, let's just say things are getting fishier. I've been stealing the paper every time someone throws one out, and by the looks of things, I'm not the only one who's getting worried."

"What if they catch you? What if you're seen?"

"You four and Dumbledore are the only ones around here who know I'm an Animagus."

Ron nudges Harry and shows him a copy of the Daily Prophet.

"Neville, huh?" Sirius questions Aurelia, "That'd be the Longbottom's son, right?"

Aurelia nods, feeling a little intimidated by Sirius. She wonders if he thinks that she's as stuck-up as the rest of their family.

"Please tell me that he made some PB&J sandwhiches, Alice used to make killer ones!" Sirius pleads dramatically.

"I think he made a couple, we made a lot of food in the kitchens." Aurelia says quietly.

Sirius sighs delightedly "I'm so looking forward to having one of those."

Aurelia grins shyly.

"You're a lot more quieter than I expected you to be." Sirius comments, "When you were a little baby, you were very vocal, you didn't cry much but you had no problem when it came to demanding things."

Aurelia goes to question just exactly how Sirius knew her as a baby but Harry cuts in with: "They're making it sound like he's dying but, he can't be that ill if he managed to get up here."

"My brother's Crouch's personal assistant, he says Crouch is suffering from overwork." Ron tells Sirius.

"Mind you, he did look ill, last time I saw him up close. The night my name came out of the goblet."

"I'm pretty everyone looked like they were ill the night our names came out of the goblet." Aurelia says dryly, "They weren't bloody supposed to."

Hermione makes a snide comment about Crouch's firing of his House-Elf which earns as dark look from Ron as he infroms Sirius that she's obsessed with House-Elves.

However, Sirius looks interested in her remark.

 _Please, don't bring up S.P.E.W_ , Aurelia pleads mentally, glancing at Hermione. If she brings up S.P.E.W one more time, Aurelia might lose it.

Aurelia thinks House-Elves deserve better rights and treatment but she absolutely detests the way Hermione's going about it. She's scaring the House-Elves more than she's helping them.

"Crouch sacked his House-Elf?" Sirius asks.

Harry nods, launching into a long story about what happened during the Quidditch World Cup.

Aurelia pales, remembering her encounter with Goyle.

 _Don't think about it_ , she tells herself, breathing heavily. _Don't fucking think about it_.

By the end of Harry's story, Aurelia's completely rigid and trying not to let the memories of that night take over her mind. She watches as Sirius paces the length of the cave, looking very thoughtful.

"Let me get this straight, you first saw the elf in the Top Box. She was sav- ing Crouch a seat, right?"

"Right" Harry, Ron, and Hermione chorus, Aurelia nods in agreement; her throat is too constricted for her to speak.

Aurelia thinks she might cry if she tries to.

"But, Crouch didn't turn up for the match?"

"No, I think he said he'd been too busy."

"Harry, did you check your pockets for your wand after you'd left the Top Box?" Sirius asks.

Harry looks like he's got to think very hard before he responds: "Erm . . . No."

He explains that he didn't need to use his wand so he hadn't bothered to check.

Aurelia blinks back tears as Gwendoline Goyle's voice invades her mind. _Go away, go away, go away go away_.

She wants to clutch her ears to block out her voice but she finds herself frozen. _You're not here, you can't be here, you're not real_.

Hermione's indignant cry of "Winky didn't steal that wand!" startles Aurelia who lets out a quiet gasp.

She blinks again, _see, it's not real_! _But, Merlin, does it feel real_.

Sirius asks who else had been in the Top Box, Harry responds with the names of the people how had been in there.

At the mention of her parents, Ron exclaims: "The Malfoys! I bet it was Lucius Malfoy!"

"Anyone else?" Sirius asks Harry.

"No."

"Yes," Hermione disagrees, "There was Ludo Bagman."

"I don't know anything about Bagman except that he used to be Beater for the Wimbourne Wasps. What's he like?" Sirius questions.

"He's a wanker." Aurelia says flatly.

"He's okay." Harry says, "He keeps offering to help me with the Triwizard Tournament."

"It's 'cause yer the bloody Boy-Who-Lived." Aurelia mutters bitterly, glaring at her feet, "He wants ye to live, that's why he's helpin ye either that or he made a ruddy bet on ye."

"Does he, now? I wonder why he'd do that?" Sirius says, for a moment Aurelia thinks they hadn't heard her.

"Says he's taken a liking to me."

Sirius turns to Aurelia "He's not helping you, is he?"

She shakes her head, scoffing: "He acts like I'm not even in the bloody tournament half the time."

Sirius looks thoughtful.

"We saw him in the forest just before the Dark Mark appeared. Remember?" Hermione says.

"Yeah, but he didn't stay in the forest, did he? The moment we told him about the riot, he went off to the campsite." Says Ron.

Hermione shoots back: "How d'you know? How d'you know where he Disapparated to?"

"Come off it! Are you saying you reckon Ludo Bagman conjured the Dark Mark?"

"It's more likely he did it than Winky!"

"Told you, told you she's obsessed with house —"

Sirius silences Ron, holding up a hand, asking: "When the Dark Mark had been conjured, and the elf had been discovered holding Harry's wand, what did Crouch do?"

"Went to look in the bushes, but there wasn't anyone else there."

"Of course, of course, he'd want to pin it on anyone but his own elf . . . And then he sacked her?"

Hermione answers this rather heatedly: "Yes, he sacked her, just because she hadn't stayed in her tent and let herself get trampled —"

"Hermione, will you give it a rest with the elf!"

Sirius shakes his head, saying: "She's got the measure of Crouch better than you have, Ron. If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals."

He runs a hand over his unshaven face "All these absences of Barty Crouch's . . . He goes to the trouble of making sure his House-Elf saves him a seat at the Quidditch World Cup, but doesn't bother to turn up and watch. He works very hard to reinstate the Triwizard Tournament, and then stops coming to that too . . . It's not like Crouch. If he's ever taken a day off work because of illness before this, I'll eat Buckbeak."

"D'you know Crouch, then?"

Aurelia snorts dryly "He's the one who sent him to ruddy Azkaban without a trial."

Sirius face darkens, nodding in agreement with Aurelia.

"What?" Ron and Hermione gasp while Harry exclaims: "You're kidding!"

"No, I'm not, Crouch used to be Head of the Department of Magical Law En- forcement, didn't you know? He was tipped for the next Minister of Magic," said Sirius. "He's a great wizard, Barty Crouch, powerfully magical — and power-hungry. Oh, never a Voldemort supporter! No, Barty Crouch was always very outspoken against the Dark Side. But, then a lot of people who were against the Dark Side . . . Well, you wouldn't understand . . . You're too young."

"People who were against the Dark Side were killed." Aurelia says darkly, finishing Sirius' sentence more than likely.

"That's what my dad said at the World Cup!" Rons says irritably, "Try us, why don't you?"

Sirius grins "All right, I'll try you . . . Imagine that Voldemort's powerful now. You don't know who his supporters are, you don't know who's working for him and who isn't; you know he can control people so that they do terrible things without being able to stop themselves. You're scared for yourself, and your family, and your friends. Every week, news comes of more deaths, more disappearances, more torturing . . . The Ministry of Magic's in disarray, they don't know what to do, they're trying to keep everything hidden from the Muggles, but meanwhile, Muggles are dying too. Terror everywhere . . . Panic . . . Confusion. That's how it used to be."

Sirius pauses for a moment then continues "Well, times like that bring out the best in some people and the worst in others. Crouch's principles might've been good in the beginning — I wouldn't know. He rose quickly through the Ministry, and he started ordering very harsh measures against Voldemort's supporters. The Aurors were given new powers — powers to kill rather than capture, for instance. And I wasn't the only one who was handed straight to the dementors without trial. Crouch fought violence with violence and authorized the use of the Unforgivable Curses against suspects. I would say he became as ruthless and cruel as many on the Dark Side. He had his supporters, mind you — plenty of people thought he was going about things the right way, and there were a lot of witches and wizards clamoring for him to take over as Minister of Magic. When Voldemort disappeared, it looked like only a matter of time until Crouch got the top job. But, then something rather unfortunate happened . . . Crouch's own son was caught with a group of Death-Eaters who'd managed to talk their way out of Azkaban. Apparently, they were trying to find Voldemort and return him to power."

Aurelia gasps, she knows exactly where this conversation is going and she hates it.

"Crouch's son was caught?" Hermione gasps.

"Yep." Sirius replies, throwing his chicken bone to Buckbeak, "Nasty little shock for old Barty, I'd imagine. Should have spent a bit more time at home with his family, shouldn't he? Ought to have left the office early once in a while . . . Gotten to know his own son."

"Was his son a Death-Eater?" Harry wonders.

Aurelia stares at the ground intently, bitterly thinking, oh, yes he was, just like my crazy bitch of an aunt!

"No idea. I was in Azkaban myself when he was brought in. This is mostly stuff I've found out since I got out. The boy was definitely caught in the company of people I'd bet my life were Death-Eaters, but he might have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, just like the house-elf."

"Did Crouch try and get his son off?" Hermione whispers.

Aurelia scoffs silently as she recalls the memory she had witnessed in the Pensieve, fuck no.

Tears burn her eyes as she thinks about the poor Longbottoms.

Sirius lets out a bark-like laugh "Crouch let his son off? I thought you had the measure of him, Hermione! Anything that threatened to tarnish his reputation had to go; he had dedicated his whole life to becoming Minister of Magic. You saw him dismiss a devoted house-elf because she associated him with the Dark Mark again — doesn't that tell you what he's like? Crouch's fatherly affection stretched just far enough to give his son a trial, and by all accounts, it wasn't much more than an excuse for Crouch to show how much he hated the boy . . . Then he sent him straight to Azkaban."

"He gave his own son to the Dementors?"

"That's right, I saw the dementors bringing him in, watched them through the bars in my cell door. He can't have been more than nineteen. They took him into a cell near mine. He was screaming for his mother by nightfall. He went quiet after a few days, though . . . They all went quiet in the end . . . Except when they shrieked in their sleep."

Aurelia's stomach twists painfully, she feels horrible for Sirius. She can't imagine spending a day in Azkaban much less twelve years.

"So he's still in Azkaban?"

"No, no, he's not in there anymore. He died about a year after they brought him in."

"He died?"

"He wasn't the only one. Most go mad in there, and plenty stop eating in the end. They lose the will to live. You could always tell when a death was coming, because the Dementors could sense it, they got excited. That boy looked pretty sickly when he arrived. Crouch being an important Ministry member, he and his wife were allowed a deathbed visit. That was the last time I saw Barty Crouch, half carrying his wife past my cell. She died herself, apparently, shortly afterward. Grief. Wasted away just like the boy. Crouch never came for his son's body. The Dementors buried him outside the fortress; I watched them do it."

Aurelia frowns, _that doesn't sound right_.

She recalls a time when she'd been about five or six and an Azkaban guard came to Malfoy Manor, bearing news that her aunt might've be dying soon and her parents would need to make arrangements for her body because they couldn't bury the body on Azkaban grounds. So, why didn't they do the same for Crouch? _Did they run out of room_?

Sirius continues on about Crouch and then Ron and Hermione start bickering about Snape.

Aurelia thinks of her aunt, wondering how she's faring in Azkaban and she knows she shouldn't care but she does. She wants to know, if maybe, she's changed.

Dumbledore seemed to think she could change, he had been willing to give her a lighter sentence.

" — Ever since I found out Snape was teaching here, I've wondered why Dumbledore hired him. Snape's always been fascinated by the Dark Arts, he was famous for it at school. Slimy, oily, greasy-haired kid, he was," Sirius says, "Snape knew more curses when he arrived at school than half the kids in seventh year, and he was part of a gang of Slytherins who nearly all turned out to be Death-Eaters."

Sirius holds up his fingers, ticking off names: "Rosier and Wilkes — they were both killed by Aurors the year before Voldemort fell. The Lestranges —"

Aurelia falls off the rock she'd been sitting on, Ron, Harry, and Hermione give her weird looks before returning their attention to Sirius.

"— They're a married couple — they're in Azkaban. Avery — from what I've heard he wormed his way out of trouble by saying he'd been acting under the Imperius Curse — he's still at large. But as far as I know, Snape was never even accused of being a Death Eater — not that that means much. Plenty of them were never caught. And Snape's certainly clever and cunning enough to keep himself out of trouble."

Ron and Harry bring up Karkaroff and his connection to Snape and Sirius questions them about it.

Aurelia frowns, more shaken up about the mentions of the Lestranges than she probably should be. She feels _so_ fucking guilty and part of her realises it's a bit irrational for her to feel this guilty but she can't stop it. She can never stop it.

She remembers the time she had adored Bellatrix Lestrange and it makes her feel so bad because how could she love someone who hurt so many people. She remembers when she had hoped and prayed for Bellatrix to return fro Azkaban — at the time she didn't know Bellatrix was in Azkaban, Aurelia just thought she had went on a really long trip — _Merlin_ , she hates herself.

Sirius heaves a sigh, asking what time is it and Hermione replies with the time. He tells them that they best get back to school.

He gives Harry a particularly hard look as he says: "Now, listen . . . I don't want you lot sneaking out of school to see me, all right? Just send notes to me here. I still want to hear about anything odd. But you're not to go leaving Hogwarts without permission; it would be an ideal opportunity for someone to attack you."

"No one's tried to attack me so far, except a dragon and a couple of grindylows," Harry says.

Sirius scowls "I don't care . . . I'll breathe freely again when this tournament's over, and that's not until June. And don't forget, if you're talking about me among yourselves, call me Snuffles, okay?"

They all nod.

"I'll walk to the edge of the village with you, see if I can scrounge another paper." Sirius says, then transforms into his Animagus form.

They walk back down the mountainside with him, across the boulder-strewn ground, and back to the stile. Here he allows each of them to pat him on the head, Harry, Ron, and Hermione head off but, Aurelia stays behind.

"Sirius . . . Can I ask ye somethin'?" Aurelia asks quietly.

The dog barks and leads her back to the boulders, he transforms back and says: "Ask away, Rory."

Aurelia frowns "Is . . . I know I shouldn't care but, is _she_ . . . Okay? Has she gone mad in there?"

Sirius' face softens "Oh, Rory. It's okay to care, kid. She's your aunt and you were quite attached to her. It's not wrong for you to care."

"Has she gone mad in there?"

Sirius hesitates before shaking his head "No, I wouldn't say she's gone mad. She's still holding onto to what very little sanity she has."

"Do ye think she's changed? Do ye think she regrets what she did to Alice, Frank, and Neville? Does she have any remorse for her actions?"

"You blame yourself for what Bella's done, don't you?"

Aurelia doesn't answer.

Sirius grabs her shoulders, "You shouldn't. Listen, you'll be hearing this a lot soon but, believe me when I say that Mae completely changed Bellatrix for the better, and you and Elliot, you gave her something to fight for. Something to stand against Voldemort and she did for —"

"Then why did she do that?!" Aurelia snaps, "Why did she hurt the Longbottoms?!"

There's a long pause and Sirius gives Aurelia this torn stare. For a moment, Aurelia thinks he's going to to hit her with something Earth-shattering but then his shoulders slump and he frowns.

"I don't know — We don't know what made her do the things she did, but there was a moment where she tried to be good like you."

Aurelia sobs and Sirius hugs her hesitantly.

"You are not to blame for the actions of our family."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At this point, Aurelia's mind is just half: "I am a Malfoy. I am the daughter of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy." and half "WHO THE FUCK ARE MY REAL PARENTS?! WHAT IS GOING ON?!" and honestly that describes the very first plan for this story because I had no idea who I wanted Aurelia to be the daughter of. Speaking of the first basic plan, it's been three years since I came up with it! It's also been six years since MCR died. Also Spoiler Alert (but like not really): Aurelia is gonna witness a murder in the next chapter oof!
> 
> I'm curious, do you think Aurelia's a Malfoy and just having a minor identity crisis? Or do you think something else is going on? I'd love to hear your theories if you have any!
> 
> Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated! I would also really, really appreciate it if you could let me know what you thought of it!


	25. | XXIII: ❝Murder Mystery❞

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aurelia: Sir, I'm bleeding.  
> Dumbledore: . . . y'all hear summ???

****

**CHAPTER xxiii** ** _!_**  
Murder Mystery

* * *

 **ON SUNDAY** , **AURELIA WALLOWS THE DAY AWAY** in self-doubt, not even bothering to get out of bed. Her dorm mates plead with to her to join them in their activities but she's much too tired. So, instead, she buries herself under the covers and tears herself apart with her own thoughts.

Sirius hadn't answered her question, of whether or not Bellatrix had changed or regretted her actions. The answer would never change what her aunt had done, it would still forever be a horrible crime. But, somehow knowing that she regretted what she had done would make Aurelia feel so much better. She doesn't understand why this piece of practically useless information would help her feel better but then again, she doesn't understand why she feels so guilty for what her aunt had done when she was a baby.

Her mind swirls into a deeper hole as she recalls the fact that Sirius knew her as a baby which is suspicious beyond belief. There's no bloody way the Malfoys would ever allow Sirius — a blood-traitor — near their children, especially with Voldemort in full power. . . Well, they did let her near Andromeda, but that was only for ' _educational purposes_ ' — to get her Metamorphmagus abilities in order, nothing more. But, Sirius, he had nothing to offer her so why would he have seen her as a baby?

If she had been raised by Bellatrix for most of her first year of being alive, then there'd be even less of a chance that Sirius would've known her. Unless, something else entirely different is going on — _NO_.

 _No_ , she's a Malfoy. She's not Bellatrix's adopted nor biological daughter, she's not anything too important to Sirius — she is a full-blooded Malfoy. That's what she was born as, that's how she was raised, and that's how it's going to stay whether or not there's a trillion different signs proving otherwise — Aurelia Alice Black is a Malfoy even if she doesn't use the name. _She's a Malfoy_.

Aurelia wishes she could go back to a time where she hardly ever doubted this, a time when she knew who she bloody was. Now, she's just confused; a lot had changed in a year.

She wakes up Monday morning, feeling like shit. She feels so dreadfully tired despite the fact that she's gotten way more than eight hours of sleep. Aurelia doesn't want to go to class, she just wants to stay in bed all day again, but, with great difficulty, she pulls herself out of bed.

Guilt and overwhelming sadness eat away at her as she showers and she just can't take it anymore. She digs her nails into the soft flesh of her arms, wishing to feel anything other than this.

Aurelia _hates_ it, she just wants to feel happy for once. Stumbling out of the shower, she reaches for her wand.

Madam Pomfrey had told her, warned her continuously, not to use the Cheering Charm. She had said that at this point, the charm would do more harm than good for Aurelia, once it wore off it would just leave Aurelia feeling worse. But, Aurelia doesn't think she can feel any worse than this.

She just wants to _feel_ happy, even for a little while, and so she casts the charm on herself.

The warmth of happiness envelops her immediately and it's glorious; Aurelia revels in it. No longer does she feel perpetually tired but energetic, she felt so alive and alert; it's thrilling.

Aurelia wishes that Pomfrey had used this on her sooner, it feels amazing.

Her guilt and sadness, all her worries have turned into amusing things — _God, I feel so alive_! — Aurelia wants this feeling to last forever.

Aurelia plans her outfit — it's cute and she looks like a sunset! She does her hair and she does her make up all fancy-like and for the first time in what feels like for ever, it doesn't feel like a chore to Aurelia; she actually enjoys doing it.

When she enters the Great Hall, her friends do a double take upon seeing the beaming smile on Aurelia's face. Seamus rubs his eyes in disbelief, Dean chokes on his pumpkin juice, and Neville can't tell if she's genuinely happy or if she's being sarcastic.

She doesn't look really happy, her face is flushed and her eyes are brighter than they've been in a long time leading many to assume she's very happy but it's the smile that gives her away — her smile is far too wide. It looks like her smile, the one that she gives to Lyra and Professor Snape, the one that Olivia calls her 'Sarcastic Smile of Death'. Something's off.

Neville watches curiously as Aurelia approaches them, her rather long legs taking long strides as she almost skips over to the Gryffindor table. Perhaps, Olivia shared some interesting gossip with her this morning and she can't wait to tell them. Or perhaps, Lyra said something to Aurelia that had pissed her off.

"Good mornin'!" Aurelia greets them cheerily, emerald green eyes sparkling with happiness, they're wider than usual and it reminds Neville of the younger Ravenclaw girl that Elliot often defends — Luna Lovegood? In fact, paired with Aurelia's strawberry-blonde hair, Neville thinks they could pass as siblings.

"Good morning." Seamus greets hesitantly.

Dean glances at his dorm mates than to Aurelia, asking: "Are you alright?" Blue?"

"Aye, never better!" She giggles, "Ah'm feelin' like ah I could take oan th' world!"

Dean and Seamus share a look before looking to Neville: "What?"

"She said she feels like she could take on the world — did you — did you use the Cheering Charm?"

Aurelia grins "Aye, ye bet yer cute bahookie ah did!"

' _Bahookie_?' Seamus mouths to Dean, who mouths back: ' _What does that even mean_?'

Neville's definitely concerned because he didn't actually expect her to have used the Cheering Charm on herself. She looks way more cheerful than she should be, when they had practiced the charm the previous year, it hadn't made them _that_ happy.

"How do you feel?" He asks hesitantly.

Aurelia laughs boisterously "I feel great!"

Neville smiles softly, happy that she seems happy but worried that she isn't really happy. He worries that something might've went wrong with the Cheering Charm — oh, he hopes not.

"Are you sure?"

Aurelia blinks then giggles again "O' course ah am, Plant Boy! Ah 'ave never been happier!"

"Mmm, sure, Blue." Seamus says sarcastically to which Dean shoves him lightly and gives his a scolding look but Aurelia doesn't take offense to his remark — she can't take offense to it — she just smiles her cute little smile and giggles her cute little giggle.

"Did you ask Pomfrey about this first?" Neville asks fretfully.

Aurelia nods her head over-exaggeratedly "Aye, Ah did. Multiple times an' th' lass told me not tae do it but I just couldn't take bein' so sad anymore! Ah didn't want tae annoy Seamus anymore than I already 'ave an' ye know it's just too hard bein' so sad. Ah really couldn't take it so ah did it anyway."

Seamus and Dean share another confused look, they're having a hard time understanding her today; her accent normally isn't this thick.

"Ari, if Pomfrey told you not to do it than you shouldn't have done it!" Neville scolds her, he wonders if he should take her to see Madam Pomfrey.

"Ah did it anyway, ah told ye ah didn't want to feel sad anymore ah couldn't take it." Aurelia says firmly but the smile never leaves her face.

Neville goes to argue further, very worried about her mental state at this point but Aurelia's distracted by an owl — make that multiple owls.

"Oi, look!" Aurelia exclaims, her green eyes going even wider as she points at Hermione. The three boys turn to look, Hermione's being swarmed by multiple owls then they look at each other, confused by the scene.

Aurelia's eyebrows furrow but her wide smile remains on her face as she says: "O' bullocks! Skeeter's struck again!"

Aurelia, herself, had gotten hate-mail, a handful letters from Merlin knows who when Skeeter had written that she was a werewolf. Aurelia had only opened one but only got through half the letter before tossing them all in a fire. They had brought Remus into it and it made her angry and she couldn't bring herself to read anymore, so up in flames they went.

Hermione's looked far worse than what Aurelia had gotten. Someone had sent her a curse of some kind, Hermione's hands began to swell up in a painful manner as she drops the one letter and hurries out of the Great Hall.

"Poor lass." Aurelia sighs, "Th' bitch, Skeeter is really gettin' on m'nerves. She's like a pesky little . . . Bug."

" _BUG_!" Aurelia exclaims suddenly, her hair going bright orange and her smile stretches so wide that it looks almost painful to Neville.

Neville looks at her confused then looks at his dorm mates, they look just as, if not, more confused.

"Ah knew it, that ruddy bitch is actually a bug." Aurelia exclaims, more quietly this time.

Aurelia says nothing more on whatever she's talking about as she's distracted by a pile of chocolate chip pancakes.

* * *

The morning classes go by quickly and she's still so happy. And then, twenty minutes from lunch time, it's gone.

It just goes away quicker than a blink of an eye. It doesn't wear off like it should've. Aurelia remembers clearly that it slowly faded when she used it last year but now, it just went away without warning.

It shocks her, one minute she's light and happy and the next she's heavy and numb.

Aurelia stops talking mid-sentence "— Oh. Oh no."

Neville and Olivia look at her, did she forget the lame plant pun she was going to tell them even though she's told it a thousand times before?

Aurelia cries, clamping a hand over her mouth to muffle her sobs. She should've listened to Madam Pomfrey, it was worse. This is horrible, it's so overwhelming, her knees shake and she feels sick to her stomach. Neville places a hand on her shoulder and Olivia asks her what's wrong but to Aurelia it sounds muffled.

She should've listened to Madam Pomfrey.

The feeling of sadness is more overwhelming than ever before and it weighs heavy on her chest, making it hard to breathe.

Professor Sprout sends her to the Hospital Wing, sending Neville along with her to act as an aid. Through blurry vision, Aurelia exits the greenhouse as she clings to Neville; she swears she sees a bug of some kind — she's can't make out what kind— fly out of Neville's hair and her stomach drops again.

When she'd had the 'epiphany' earlier about Skeeter, Aurelia hadn't thought she'd be correct but seeing that bug fly out of Neville's hair makes her think, she is.

She hopes that she's wrong and Skeeter's just using an Invisibility Cloak because if not, Skeeter's going to have a field day with this.

"Oh no." She sobs into Neville's shoulder.

It seems to be the only thing Aurelia can say or think for the rest of the day. Especially after getting an earful from Pomfrey for using the charm in the first place.

The Cheering Charm is not meant to be used on a person suffering from depression, Madam Pomfrey couldn't give her a solid explanation as to why this is because she doesn't quite understand depression. She'd explained it being that depression effects a person much differently than other emotions such as sadness, angry, and annoyance which are the most common emotions that a Cheering Charm is used to fix. Since it effects a person different, the charm has to work harder to fix the emotion and sometimes the charm makes a person too happy and when it wears off the loss of happiness is hard blow, or sometimes it doesn't work at all. In other words, the Cheering Charm and depression don't get on well and Aurelia's an idiot for trying to make it happen.

Pomfrey keeps her in the Hospital Wing for the rest of the day, she doesn't trust Aurelia not to do it again and Aurelia can't blame her. Even though, Aurelia thought the feeling was the most horrible feeling in the world when the charm wore off, she's just that desperate to feel happy for just a little bit.

By the next morning, Aurelia's contemplating using it on herself again. She thinks she's going to need it if she's going to make it through the day without punching someone.

The Daily Prophet is clutched so tightly in her shaking hands that it's slowly tearing apart as she reads the slanderous article written about her.

**THE MADNESS OF HOUSE BLACK**

It mostly slanders her aunt and cousin but it's about the 'breakdown' she had yesterday in Herbology. Which is overdramatised in the article, of course, Rita ruddy Skeeter would make her seem like she's lost her bloody mind.

 _Stupid bitch_ , Aurelia thinks angrily, _you just fucking proved that you're an unregistered Animagus_.

She wonders just what to do with this information, there's no use telling Dumbledore because he'll either not believe her or he already knows. She should tell Hermione but she's probably already knows too. Aurelia's smart but Hermione's smarter, she probably figured this out ages ago.

She wants revenge, Rita's not only slandered her but her friends, Remus, and Sirius but, she's not so sure revenge would be worth it. After all, these articles about her are technically Skeeter's revenge against her mother and her aunts, maybe Aurelia should just let her have this one — "OH, FUCK THAT! This bitch just said I was as crazy as my aunt!"

Aurelia crumbles the article, slamming it down on the bedside table, she is _so_ getting revenge. Someway, somehow, someday. Aurelia will take Skeeter the fuck out.

* * *

Aurelia doesn't attempt the Cheering Charm again, there had been times where she'd come close to it, so desperate just to feel light and happy again but then she remembers just how horrible she felt afterwards and manages to stop herself — days like today.

Sprout tells her that she's too head to the Quidditch pitch around nine to receive news about the third task from Bagman.

Between the fact it's the third task and Ludo bloody Bagman, Aurelia really needs to be punched in the face with happy to withstand whatever she's going to be told tonight.

She heads out with Cedric and they run into Harry in the Entrance Hall.

"What d'you reckon it's going to be?" Cedric asks, trying to start a conversation as they head down the stone steps.

"Fleur keeps goin' on about underground tunnels; she reckons we've got to find treasure." Aurelia adds.

"That won't be too bad." Harry says thoughtfully.

"What've they done to it?" Cedric asks indignantly, stopping dead when they come across the Quidditch field, it's no longer smooth and flat. It looks as though somebody had been building long, low walls all over it that twisted and crisscrossed in every direction.

"They're hedges!" Harry exclaims, bending to examine the nearest one.

"It's a maze!" Aurelia cries, she's seen _Labyrinth_ once and she knows that mazes are not fun. Thank Merlin, she doesn't have a baby brother to worry about.

"Hello there!" Bagman's annoyingly cheery voice calls out, he's standing in the middle of the field along with Viktor and Fleur.

"Well, what d'you think? Growing nicely, aren't they? Give them a month and Hagrid'll have them twenty feet high. Don't worry, you'll have your Quidditch field back to normal once the task is over! Now, I imagine you can guess what we're making here?"

Aurelia stares at him blankly, did he not hear her seconds ago? It's not like she whispered it! Aurelia scoffs quietly, a scowl growing on her face.

"Maze." Krum grunts out, after a moment of silence.

"That's right! A maze. The third task's really very straightforward. The Triwizard Cup will be placed in the center of the maze. The first champion to touch it will receive full marks."

"We seemply 'ave to get through the maze?" Fleur asks.

Aurelia frowns "Sounds fake . . . But, okay."

"There will be obstacles." Bagman says happily, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Ooop, there it is." Aurelia mutters.

"Hagrid is providing a number of creatures . . . then there will be spells that must be broken . . . all that sort of thing, you know. Now, the champions who are leading on points will get a head start into the maze." Bagman grins at Harry and Aurelia (mostly Harry), "Then Mr. Diggory will enter . . . Then Mr. Krum . . . Then Miss Delacour. But, you'll all be in with a fighting chance, depending how well you get past the obstacles. Should be fun, eh?"

"No, none of this tournament has been fun. The third task is never fun, it's the most dangerous out of them all!" Aurelia snaps as her hair turns red and Bagman casts her a dirty look.

"Very well, Miss — is it, Black? If that that's how you choose you view this thrilling tournament than so be it, there's no reason to dampen the rest of our spirits." Bagman says sourly, "If you lot haven't got any questions, we'll go back up to the castle, shall we, it's a bit chilly."

They all hurry back to the castle, Bagman's beside Harry and Aurelia waits for him to offer Harry some unfair advice but he doesn't get that chance. Viktor taps Harry on the shoulder, and asks for him to take a walk with him.

Although, Aurelia likes Viktor something about this causes alarm bells to ring in her head. Viktor's never interacted with Harry before, what if it's not Viktor, what if he's under the Imperius Curse?

She tells herself that she's just being paranoid but when Viktor leads him towards the forest rather than the Durmstrang ship, her bad feeling grows stronger. Aurelia tugs her Invisibility Cloak out of her messenger bag and covers herself with it.

Aurelia trails after them, unseen, she follows them past Hagrid's hut and the Beauxbatons' carriage only for Viktor to bloody ask "Vot there is between you and Hermy-own-ninny?"

Aurelia blinks, _are you fucking kidding me_ , she almost screams. Merlin, she's been so paranoid lately, she hates herself. Viktor wouldn't hurt Harry and it's very unlikely that someone would control him to do so, what is wrong with her?

She needs a moment to catch her breath, before she heads back up to the class now knowing that Harry's fine. Viktor and Harry go back and forth about Hermione for a bit before Viktor finally relents and compliments Harry's flying skills.

Aurelia turns to leave, bragging to herself mentally about how Viktor complimented her flying skills first — _wow, calm down, Draco_! When the sound of a branch snapping catches her attention.

Harry must hear it turn as he drawls his wand out, and turns Viktor, who questions what's wrong, around. Aurelia grabs her wand as well, getting ready to tug her cloak off when Barty Crouch comes staggering out of the trees, he looks terrible.

He was bloody, unshaven, and his face is all scratched up leaving Aurelia to wonder just how long he'd been in that forest. Something is terribly wrong.

Aurelia rushes forward, "Crouch, sir, are ye alright!"

Viktor and Harry look startled by her appearance but they were more startled by Crouch, who is acting very strangely. Crouch pays her no mind, he seems to be talking to someone who doesn't exist.

"Vosn't he a judge? Isn't he vith your Ministry?" Krum asks.

Both, Aurelia and Harry nod. Harry hesitates for a moment, then walks slowly toward Crouch, whereas Aurelia strides up to him, Crouch doesn't look at either of them, instead he talks to a nearby tree.

"— And when you've done that, Weatherby, send an owl to Dumbledore confirming the number of Durmstrang students who will be attending the tournament, Karkaroff has just sent word there will be twelve."

"Mr. Crouch?" Harry says cautiously.

Aurelia places her hand on his shoulder but he doesn't react "And then send another owl to Madame Maxime, because she might want to up the number of students she's bringing, now Karkaroff's made it a round dozen . . . Do that, Weatherby, will you? Will you? Will —"

Crouch's eyes bulge as he stands, staring at the tree, muttering soundlessly at it then he staggers sideways and fall to his knees.

"Oh, sir!" Aurelia cries, trying to help him up, "What are ye doin' here? Did ye walk all the way here? Did . . . Did someone put you — sweet Merlin!"

Crouch's eyes are rolling in his head.

"Mr. Crouch?" Harry says loudly, "Are you all right?"

"Vot is wrong with him?" Viktor asks, approaching Crouch with caution, his eyes wide in alarm.

"No idea," Harry mutters. "Listen, you'd better go and get someone —"

"Dumbledore!" gasps Mr. Crouch, seizing a handful of Aurelia's robes, dragging her closer, though his eyes stare above her head, ". . . I need to . . . See . . . Dumbledore."

"Oh — okay, sir." Aurelia stammers.

"If you get up, Mr. Crouch, we can go up to the —" Harry says.

"I've done . . . Stupid . . . Thing . . ." Crouch breathes and Aurelia's stomach twists painfully as her mind goes to a thousand horrible different scenarios; none of which she likes in the least bit. "Must . . . Tell . . . Dumbledore . . ."

"Get up, Mr. Crouch. Get up, I'll take you to Dumbledore!" Harry says again.

Crouch's eyes rolled forward onto Harry as he whispers: "Who . . . you?"

"I'm a student at the school." Harry answers, looking at Viktor for some help, but he keeps his distance, looking extremely nervous.

"You're not . . . _his_?"

Her heart gives a horrible jolt as her mouth runs dry "Sir, please tell me you didn't —"

"No." Harry says, but he doesn't know what Crouch means.

"Dumbledore's?"

"That's right."

Crouch pulls Aurelia closer, trying to steady himself to get a good look at Harry.

"Warn . . . Dumbledore . . ."

"I'll get Dumbledore if you let go of her." Harry says, "Just let go, Mr. Crouch, and I'll get him."

Crouch lets go of Aurelia and turns back to the tree "Thank you, Weatherby, and when you have done that, I would like a cup of tea. My wife and son will be arriving shortly, we are attending a concert tonight with Mr. and Mrs. Fudge."

Aurelia's frozen in fear, most of the worst case scenarios she's thought of involve Crouch's son even though he's apparently dead.

"Yes, my son has recently gained twelve O.W.L.s, most satisfac- tory, yes, thank you, yes, very proud indeed. Now, if you could bring me that memo from the Andorran Minister of Magic, I think I will have time to draft a response."

Harry tells Aurelia and Viktor to stay and keep an eye on Crouch while he gets Dumbledore but as he gets up to leave, Crouch abruptly grabs Harry's leg and pulls him back down.

"Don't . . . Leave . . . Me!" He whispers, eyes bulging again "I . . . Escaped . . . Must warn . . . Must tell . . . See Dumbledore . . . My fault . . . All my fault . . . Bertha . . . Dead . . . All my fault . . . My son . . . My fault . . . Tell Dumbledore . . . Harry Potter . . . The Dark Lord . . . Stronger . . . Harry Potter —"

It feels like the winds been knocked out of her lungs, 'escape' and 'my son' in the same incoherent sentence, _oh, fuck no_. Barty Crouch Jr. hadn't died in Azkaban, Crouch snuck him out somehow, _oh son of bitch_.

Her mouth runs dry again, _they're in danger_. Everyone is in danger, it's like someone lit a match inside her, every part of her body feels like it's on fire. If Barty Crouch Jr. is really out there, so many people are in danger, he's dangerous.

"I'll get Dumbledore if you let me go, Mr. Crouch!" Harry exclaims, looking furiously around at Viktor and Aurelia, "Help me, will you?"

Viktor helps pulls Crouch off of Harry who says: "Just keep him there. I'll be back with Dumbledore."

"Hurry, von't you?" Viktor calls after Harry's retreating body.

A sound of a branch snapping hardly a minute or so later brings Aurelia to her senses, she looks around wearily "We should get him of here."

"He said to keep him here." Viktor says hesitantly.

"I don't think we're alone." Aurelia whispers, hair going white with fear.

"Vot?"

"I think his son is here."

"Vot is so bad about that?" Viktor asks, looking away more than likely trying to see if Harry was returning with Dumbledore.

"His son was a Death-Eater and he was thrown in Azkaban but I — I think Crouch might've let him out an' he might've got a — VIKTOR LOOK OUT!"

A bright red light had shot out from the tree line, heading straight for Viktor — a stunning spell. The spell hits him and knocks him out cold.

A deranged looking man, hardly in his thirties with straw-coloured hair steps into the light of the moon.

"A smart little girl, aren't you? Eh, Black."

" _YOU_!" Aurelia screams, her wand flies up but her mind draws a complete blank.

Barty Crouch Jr. laughs, his pale, freckled face contorting into a frightening sight as his mad laugh rings through the air.

"Well, that's no way to greet your dear Uncle Barty, now is it?"

"Yer not my uncle, ye crazy ass bitch!"

"Well, if you want to be technical little Aurelia Alice, I'm your _honorary_ uncle." Barty laughs, arms at his side as he casually steps forward.

Aurelia shakes her wand at him, letting him know she's armed as her brain scrambles to think of some spell to defend herself. _C'mon think! Anything will do_!

But, he's turned his attention to his father, sneering down at the rambling senior.

"Don't hurt him!" Aurelia begs, getting to her feet.

Her mind seems to be doused in molasses, part of her mind is just screaming at her to stay out of it, out of danger. But, the other part wants to fight back, the part that seems to be frozen.

"Don't hurt him!" Crouch Jr. mocks, pointing his wand at his father, "I waited years to do this — Avada Kedavra!"

"No!" Aurelia cries, a bright green light strikes Crouch Sr. and he falls silent and limp and _dead_ and _oh, Merlin_.

Crouch Jr. turns on her and she jumps backwards, stumbling over her lanky, shaky legs.

"Stupefy!" He exclaims.

The blast knocks her off her feet and she hits the ground, feeling extremely weak. Her head slams against something hard and sharp and she cries out in pain, the blackness that had been taking over her vision dissipates as a throbbing pain takes its' place.

"Don't kill me. Don't kill me, pl — please. Please, don't kill me." Aurelia begs weakly, tears burn her eyes and blur her vision even more.

Crouch Jr. laughs "Although, Gwen will be so disappointed in me, I'm not going to kill you. I wouldn't be a very good _honorary_ uncle, now would I? Besides, I think you could be useful, you could be a talented and loyal Death-Eater, just like Bella."

Aurelia wants to argue that so badly but the words die in her throat before she can even open her mouth.

 _Stay quiet_ , her brain says, _stay alive_.

He laughs at the fearful expression on her face "No, Gwen's not here. I didn't want a massacre on my hands, if I'd of brought her she would've slaughtered both you and Krum and that would draw too much attention. Well, Krum would've . . . You. Not so much. You're _nothing_ yet. But, you could be. You could be brilliant! Soon . . .Not yet so . . . For now — Obliviate!"

And the next thing she knows and remembers is being awakened by Mad-Eye Moody.

Her head throbs, _what happened_? _Where's Crouch_? _Dead_.

Aurelia blinks, confused by that thought and shakes her head. No, Crouch can't be but, she can't see him anywhere.

"I vos attacked! Mr. Crouch or votever his name —" Krum is saying but he's interrupted by somone whom Aurelia assumes is Karkaroff.

"Crouch attacked you? Crouch attacked you? The Triwizard judge?!"

Aurelia clutches her head, his roaring voice causes her head to throb painfully. She can't remember. This has never happened to her before. She's never _not_ remembered something that's _just_ happened.

She remembers Crouch appearing out of nowhere, she remembers Harry going to get Dumbledore because Crouch had been injured, and she remembers that Crouch had said something that had terrified her but she can't remember _what_. It's just a blank space and it's not right.

And then Krum and red and then Moody's waking her up.

Her memory is gone . . . _Erased_.

Aurelia gets to her feet just in time to watch Hagrid slam Karkaroff against a tree. Hagrid demands that Karkaroff apologise to to Dumbledore and Dumbledore demands that Hagrid lets him go, he does as told.

Dumbledore instructs that Hagrid take Harry up to the castle and again Hagrid does as told. It's only when Hagrid and Harry have vanished from view that Dumbledore rounds on her.

"Miss. Black, do you recall anything at all, you were not stunned like Krum, leaving me to believe you have possibly witnessed what has truly taken place here."

Aurelia stares dazedly at him for a moment, her head hurts so bad. She touches the back of her head, it's warm and sticky — _blood_.

She pulls her hand back to examine it, there's a lot of it for just a little touch. But, Mae always told her that head wounds bleed a lot heavier than other wounds, it might not be as bad as it feels.

"I'm bleeding, sir." She says faintly, blinking up at Dumbledore, only now realising how tall he is.

Dumbledore hardly looks concerned.

"Do you remember anything, Miss. Black."

 _Dead_.

 _A green light_?

Aurelia shakes her head "No, sir. . . My head hurts."

"Nothing?"

 _Dead. Dead. Dead. Dead_.

Aurelia screws her eyes shut, he can't be dead because she would've remembered that. _You don't just witness a murder then forget it, especially not when you're Aurelia Black_. Merlin, her head hurts so bad.

"I — I think Crouch was murdered." Aurelia says quietly.

"By whom?"

"I don't know, sir, I don't even know he was murdered but my brain keeps telling me that he's dead and I think someone erased my memory. Sir, I think I have a concussion." Aurelia says, wincing as she touches her head again.

Still, Dumbledore hardly looks concerned as he scans the area: "Who on Earth would want to kill Barty Crouch?"

 _Who wouldn't_? Aurelia thinks sarcastically, _His imprisoned albeit dead son for_ — her head gives a painful jolt at this.

And, maybe she's being a wee bit dramatic when she says: "Sir, _please_ , I think I'm dying."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So,,, Barty spared Aurelia's life,,, ya yeet,,, but,,, why especially since he more than likely put her name in the Goblet to get her killed? Mmm something succspicious is going on here? I'm literally so hyped because next chapter itS GOING DOWN! AND Y'ALL WONT SEE (but also probably already have,,,, at least a tiny part of it) COMING! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the chapter, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated! I would also really, really appreciate it if you could let me know what you thought of it!


	26. | XXIV: ❝Labyrinth❞

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Aurelia would much rather face the Goblin King, Jareth than whatever is in that labyrinth!

****

**ACT i, CHAPTER xxiv** ** _!_**  
Labyrinth

* * *

" **EXACTLY WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU SAYING** then, Potter?" Aurelia snarls scathingly, crossing her arms over her chest as she tries to appear intimidating but tears threaten to spill.

Harry struggles to find the words, he seems to be regretting confronting her about this. It's probably not the best time, she's possibly witnessed a murder and recovered from a concussion all in the span of a few days. Harry Potter, for once, had went looking for trouble and he really regrets it.

"Are you saying that I'm what? Only friends with Neville because my aunt — who I haven't seen since I was a wee babe! — wants me to get close close to him in some horrible plot to hurt the rest of the Longbottom family or what? Do you think I'm only friends with Neville because I pity him? Which one is it? Huh, Potter?!"

"I —"

"What gives you the bloody right —" Aurelia laughs abruptly, "Now this is the more important question — what gives you the bloody right to jump in and judge me like this when you have never bothered to learn anything about Neville before. You don't care about Neville enough to come here and judge me about this!"

"I —"

"You don't think I do that enough on my own, Potter? You don't think that I worry that one day Nev — Neville's going to see me how much I look like her and decide he doesn't want to be my friend or — or what if he doesn't want to be my friend at all, what if it's all been a lie what if Neville's only friends with me 'cause he's scared of me?! You don't think I don't hate myself for what she's done, you don't think I blame myself!"

Harry frowns, this is a lot more than he bargained for. He hadn't expected Aurelia to lash out like this, as far as he knew her — or thought he knew her — this kind of behaviour wasn't in her nature.

The tall twig of a girl had always intimidated her for reasons he could never explain. He considers her to be one of his friends and before this year she had always wore a smile on her face but there had always been something about her that made him uneasy.

He doesn't want to think that Aurelia's a bad person but that woman had looked so similar to her that for a moment he had thought that is was Aurelia who had been chained to that chair. And the revelation delivered by Dumbledore that the two of them were related had stirred weird protectiveness over Neville inside of him because it didn't make sense to him as to why Aurelia would be Neville's friend.

Something else had to be going on here, Aurelia had to be using him because she's got to be just like that woman. After all, the memory showed that Aurelia was her daughter, she did call the woman 'mama' and in Harry's mind, the apple never falls far from the tree — just look at Dudley.

But, Harry does feel bad that he's made her cry, which in all fairness, isn't a hard task to accomplish these days. Still, he feels a pit in his stomach as he stands awkwardly in front of Aurelia.

She rambles on about how she's trying not to be like them, her face turning red and her hair turning gold, something Harry knows is not a good thing from Neville who never shuts up about her.

"Please, stop crying." Harry says, "I didn't mean it like that."

It's a lie but Aurelia doesn't need to know that, anyway, he hadn't meant to offend her this badly.

Her eyes narrow "Then how did you mean it, Potter?!"

"Well, Dumbledore told me that you saw what I did ("Of course the bloody old bat did!") and that you know what your mum —"

"AUNT!" Aurelia yells, gold curls tinging red.

Harry gives her his trademark confused look "But, you called her —"

"I was a dumb baby! I thought she was but really she's just my aunt." Aurelia says angrily, "My parents gave me to her because they thought I was dying and they didn't want me."

"Oh, well, okay —" He doesn't look like he believes her.

"She's not my mum!"

Harry raises his hands in surrender "Okay, okay!"

"If Dumbledore told you I know then why are you asking me if I do?"

"Well, I want to, er, know if Neville knows." Harry says, the look on Aurelia's face tells him that's the wrong thing to have said.

"Why do you want know, huh, Potter? Do you think that would change anything between Nev and I? Do you think that would stop him from being my friend?!"

"No?"

"Then why do you want to bloody know?!"

"Well, I just wanted to make sure that, well, Neville knew what he was getting into —"

"And just what is that supposed to mean?!"

Harry pales, feeling like he's digging his own grave "I, well, nothing."

When he had learned that Neville is best friends with the daughter — _sorry, niece_ — of the woman who helped torture his parents Harry had the need to make sure Neville was _safe_ with Aurelia.

Aurelia flinches, her shoulders slump and the fight seems to leave her "I'm not dangerous."

Another trademark confused look is given because he didn't say that, out loud, at least.

"I wouldn't hurt, Neville . . . I am not like her . . . I'm not my family . . . You barely know me, you don't know what I am or what I am not capable of, Potter, but since you don't want to bother asking me yourself, I'll let you know now that I am not capable of what my aunt did and I am capable of being good. I can be good. I will be good. I will." Aurelia tells him, voice quivering with emotion.

She gives him a determined glare before turning on her heel and gliding down the corridor, Harry can only describe it as, looking as though she's an angry ghost.

He doesn't even have time to offer her an apology but, seeing how upset and angry she had been by the accusations he had made, Harry doubts she'd accept it. He also thinks Aurelia kind of blew the whole situation out of the water; he never said she was evil, she had — which is probably a good thing because he almost did and he would've regretted it the moment she started crying.

* * *

**_ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ_ **

* * *

Aurelia Black had loved Neville Longbottom from the moment she had met him. It hadn't always been a romantic kind of love, when little eleven-year-old Aurelia had met Neville for the first time, she knew that in some way they would be soulmates, from just one shy smile that he would be very important to her.

She believes in soulmates, not just romantic ones but platonic ones as well and she likes to be that her and Neville are soulmates. She doesn't care what kind of soulmates they are just as long as they're in each other's lives for a very long time.

Although her parents hadn't been very loving towards her, they had been very loving towards each other, leaving Aurelia to be a hopeless romantic, (and to this day, Draco may deny this fact, he's just as much of a hopeless romantic as she is) her parents had the most loving relationship despite the fact it had been arranged. Aurelia always wanted what they had, she just wanted someone to love her wholly. More than anything, she wants to be with Neville Longbottom, she wants to hold his hand, to kiss his cute, chubby cheeks, and kiss his plump, soft-looking lips but like, as his girlfriend.

It scares her although, weirdly enough, as much as she wants Neville to be her boyfriend, the idea of that actually happening causes her heart to race in both a good and bad way — what if she isn't enough for him, what if he realises he doesn't like her anymore, and then it ruins everything. Even their friendship. It's likely to happen because she's never enough for anyone.

Harry doesn't think you're enough for him, _what if he's right? What if you're not even enough to be Neville's friend? What if you don't deserve to hold Neville's hand, to be hugged by him, to be anything to him? What if you're just like her_?

Aurelia shudders as these horrible thoughts cloud her brain. She wishes they wouldn't, their friendship is so strong, so certain, so pure and it hurts her heart to question it. She just wants to be completely confident in what they have again but, the last year had made it hard for her not to.

Then, Harry came and delivered the final blow to her confidence. She had often questioned the irony of her friendship with Neville but before this year, she'd never really dwell on those thoughts. Aurelia would either dismiss them or Neville would do something that would make her realise her those thoughts were wrong. They never plagued her for long.

However, this year it had been different. These worries seemed to plague her every waking moment, so much so that it was getting harder and harder to dismiss.

"I don't deserve you!" Aurelia declares bursting into the greenhouse where Neville is tending to some plants.

Neville tells her that's not true, moving some plants out the way to make room for her to sit. Aurelia sits up on the table, as she normally does when Neville's in the greenhouse after class but lately she hasn't spent much time with him so he's surprised to see her tonight.

"How's your head?" Neville asks before she can start her rant.

"It's fine. _BUT_! That's not why I'm here, I'm here to tell you that I don't deserve you and some other things that will make you hate me." Aurelia says, uncharacteristically brashly.

"I could never hate you, not — not even the Imperius Curse could make me hate you." Neville vows.

Her heart swells, she fiddles with her thumbs and her brash tone softens as she says: "This just might."

He knows it won't.

"Let's just start this off by saying, I was a dumb, stupid baby — well, I still am a dumb stupid baby, I just have a better judge of character now." Aurelia takes a deep breath, "I only learned about this from Lyra a few months ago and, well, you see . . . I almost died when I was born, my parents didn't want me because of that and well, I was girl. So, they gave me to a House-Elf, expecting me to die during the night, I suppose . . . But, B — Bellatrix called upon it for Merlin knows what and it panicked and brought me along. I suppose, she healed me too, y'know, helped me survive the night . . . After that, well, Bellatrix never gave me back to my parents and . . . Well, this bloody part, I've known since I was a wee thing and please don't hate me for this —"

Neville gently squeezes her hands "I won't hate you."

"I was a baby and I didn't know any better. Merlin, I'd of clung to a warm blanket and slapped the label 'mama' on it if my parents had let me. For the longest time, I thought that Bellatrix was my mum. Then I went though a phase when I was three where I started calling her her 'mama' again because I went and convinced myself that she loved me more than my actual mother. In my wee toddler brain that meant that Bellatrix was my real mum, like I said I was a dumb and very confused wee thing. And I am so so sorry for —"

"Why are you apologising?"

"Because it's a horrible thing —"

"No, it's not."

Aurelia gives him a confused look and Neville absentmindedly tucks a strand of gold hair behind her ear as he thinks of a way to explain himself.

"It's not a horrible thing, Ari . . . I mean, she couldn't have been always evil, she had to care about someone at some point."

Neville frowns, their foreheads are touching now, he struggles to find the right words to explain himself. He knows that what he's about to say doesn't make much sense but he knows if anyone's going to understand, it'd be Aurelia.

"I — Bellatrix Lestrange is a horrible and wretched woman but she couldn't have horrible the whole life at — at least I hope she wasn't. It — It's terrifying to think that someone could be born evil, it's terrifying to think of her as this killing machine with no feelings . . . That's how Lyra describes her, Gran never speaks about her or any of them, but Lyra only ever talks about these horrible things she done, she's never once said a good thing about her and that — that's her older sister."

He sniffles "It's not like I want to hear that she's a saint or that I think that because she's done good things that she's a good person, nothing would ever make up for what she's done but when I hear from you or Ellie that she was nice to you, it makes her less scary in my mind and — and that's all I want . . . I don't want to be terrified of her because she's locked in Azkaban, I've got nothing to be scared of because she can't hurt me but Lyra's makes her to be this huge threat that I need to be scared out of my skin of and I — I don't want that. So, it's good to hear that she cared about someone other than You-Know-Who."

"I never said she was a good person!" Aurelia says quickly, golden eyes going wide.

"I know you didn't but you make her less scary to me." Neville says softly, "You're the only one I can talk to about this, the only one I feel comfortable with . . . You understand better than most because she didn't just destroy my life but yours as well . . . Besides, it's not like you're actually her . . . Biological? . . . Daughter, you turned out just fine and so did Ellie."

"I still feel bad." Aurelia mumbles, fiddling with the hem of her skirt now.

"You shouldn't . . . She's your family, if anyone has a right to like her, it's you. I — I don't think it matters what you think about her as long as you can say that what she did was wrong and horrible and you — you do. I mean, you still love your parents even though you hate what they do? I think the situations are no different."

"I —" Aurelia says but Neville cuts her off, seeing the fight in her eyes, she's got an argument on the tip of the tongue but he's not going to hear it.

"Ari, you're my best friend, nothing's going to change that. This doesn't change how I see you nor does it change how I see you." Neville says firmly.

His nose brushes against hers and Aurelia realises two things, one being that she feels much lighter having confessed this and the other being that they're really close. Closer than usual. Her cheeks burn and palms grow sweaty, he could kiss her, her heart races, she could kiss him.

 _He did say he likes-likes you so that must mean he's thought about kissing you at least once so it's not like he'd be against a little kiss now. But, it doesn't mean he's thinking about kissing you right now_.

Their closeness doesn't mean anything out of the usual, Neville probably doens't realise that he's closer than normal. It's always been hard to tell as they've both been very affectionate since, well, forever. There isn't a day that goes by that they don't hold hands or hug; Neville does most of the hugging as Aurelia believes she doesn't give good hugs. But, the point is, they've always been extremely close so this doesn't quite mean anything.

They both pull away, and just in time too, Professor Sprout enters the greenhouse. However, she must notice some tension between them as she gives them a teasing look.

"Am I interrupting something?"

"Erm, no?" Neville says, blushing.

"We were just practicing!" Aurelia says quickly.

"Is that what the kids are calling it these days?" Sprout asks lightly.

"No, I mean, for the — the third task!"

Sprout grins at Aurelia "Well, don't mind me. I'm just here to fertilise the Bubotubers."

Neville goes back to repotting the plants and Aurelia tries her best to help him but she's not really good with that aspect of Herbology.

Flustered, Neville in a low whisper says: That colour looks good on you — that red."

Aurelia's eyes widen, realising he means her lipstick. _He was thinking about kisssing you! Bloody hell!_

* * *

**_ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ_ **

* * *

Time seems to move quickly for Aurelia and before she knows it, she's sitting at the Gryffindor table on the morning of the third task.

Her head throbs, her stress levels are probably too high to be normal, there's not a thing she's looking forward to — except maybe seeing Mae and Remus again. Aurelia will be so thrilled when this tournament is done, she'll be even more thrilled to she her parents — _oh_.

She shakes her head, she's picked up the habit of referring to Mae and Remus as her parents since the last Hogsmeade trip.

Beside her sits Neville, he's trying to get her to eat something but she's not in the mood to eat, her stomach hurts too much. He eventually realises that she's not going to eat so he offers to help her practice and she's about to take him up on that offer when Professor Sprout approaches her, requesting that Aurelia follow her. Aurelia gives Neville a quick kiss on the cheek before following after Sprout, who leads her into a side chamber where it seems that champions' families have been gathered.

Seeing Mae is like a rush of relief and energy all mixed into one, Aurelia runs straight into her arm and Mae squeezes her so tight.

"Wee moon." Mae says lovingly, running her fingers through Aurelia's hair which had turned red to match Mae's.

"Mum — er, Mae!"

Mae holds her tighter at that.

Standing behind Mae is Remus "Hello, Rory."

Aurelia smiles shyly "Wotcher, Remus."

"Merlin's beard, are you ever starting to sound like Nymphadora!" Andromeda's voice pipes in.

Aurelia's eyes light up as she spots her aunt and uncle walking towards her "You guys came too!"

"Of course, love! We wouldn't dare miss it, Nymphadora would've loved to be here but she had to work, she said she didn't want to miss you winning the Triwizard Tournament for anything but duty called." Andromeda says, hugging Aurelia.

"I'm not going to win."

Ted ruffles her hair, smiling fondly "Keep your chin up, Lia, you're tied in first place with Harry Potter, you stand a bloody good chance of winning."

Aurelia doesn't care about winning but she's grown more fond of the idea as the tournament comes to an end. She'd be more motivated to win if she bloody knew who put her name in the damned cup, to see their face when she comes out of that labyrinth victorious is the only thing she wants. But, she still hasn't a clue who put her in this mess. So, her goal at the moment is to bloody survive.

As she pulls herself free from her aunt's grasp, there's a light tap on her shoulder. It's Fleur who's asking if she can introduce Aurelia to her family, Aurelia's fine with that and Fleur begins to gushes about how great Aurelia's been to her in French to her parents. Then, Aurelia introduces Fleur to her family.

Fleur's gaze rests upon Mae as she asks in french: ❝ _Your mother, is she by chance related to the fanged-earring man over there?_ ❞

At this, Fleur smiles shyly and Aurelia can't recall ever seeing the blonde do something shyly before.

❝ _Aye, technically she's his aunt_.❞

❝ _So, you're cousins with him?_ ❞

❝ _No, neither Mae and I are related to him by blood. I'm not even related to Mae by blood . . . If anything, he's like my older brother. Why? Do you, perhaps, fancy him?_ ❞

Aurelia smiles teasingly while Fleur blushes.

❝ _His name's Bill Weasley, he's a Curse-Breaker._ ❞

Smiling shyly again, Fleur glances at Bill ❝ _He is, how you would say, very pretty_.❞

❝ _I suppose_.❞

❝ _You wouldn't know, you're too busy eyeing Neville._ ❞

❝ _Fuck yeah, I am_.❞

Aurelia doesn't deny this because it's said in French and it's been whispered to only Fleur.

Fleur rolls her eyes, kissing Aurelia's cheeks as she and her family head out of the hall.

Viktor comes by with his family, he says a few things in his native tongue to his parents. Whatever he says, it's good because he parents give her grateful looks before they follow their son out of the hall.

Smiling brightly, Mae says: "I see ye have made yerself a lot of friends this year."

"Aye."

"That's great, I'm glad ye have, wee moon. Say, would ye mind givin' me a tour. Ye know, I haven't been here before."

Aurelia grins as she links arms with Mae, exclaiming: "O' course!"

* * *

**_ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ | ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ɢᴏʟᴅ_ **

* * *

Despite having a rather enjoyable afternoon, Aurelia finds herself scared stiff by dinner time. She's not ready for this, it's all so overwhelming.

Finding it too hard to breath, Aurelia slips out of the Great Hall when she thinks no one's paying attention. Aurelia leans against the wall in the side chamber, taking a deep, shuddery breath.

 _It'll all be over soon_ , she tells herself. That does nothing to soothe her nerves because she knows no matter what happens, whether this tournament ends well or in flames, she'll never be the same again.

Her body shakes and tears blur her vision.

"Ari?" Neville questions, slipping into the chamber.

"Ye — yeah?" Aurelia chokes out, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Wh —" He stops himself, he knows what's wrong, "Er, they've got chocolate cheesecake at my table —"

"M'not hungry."

Neville stands beside, grabbing her hand.

"I'm scared, Neville." Aurelia says, head throbbing as she thinks of all the things that could go wrong.

"I am too." He admits, "But, you're strong and smart and you — you're going to survive. You could even win if you want — wanted to."

Aurelia breathes heavily, her mouth runs dry "I — I —"

"Breathe." Neville says softly, giving her shaking hand a gentle squeeze. Aurelia doesn't think she can, he traces some pattern on her palm.

"You've learned how to stun, freeze, and disarm. You — you've thought of a plan and you've been practicing almost every day for months. It's very un — unlikely that something will go wrong."

"I know but — but, if I — I get too scared I — I'll panic and I — I'll forget and then I — I — I might die."

"You won't die!" Neville reassures her but he won't deny that horrifying thought had crossed his mind more than once.

"I — I — I could! And, no — no one would care. That's why I'm in this fucking thing in the first place, someone wants me dead!"

She grinds her teeth, her breathing gets heavier as her fear mixes with anger. Someone wants her dead and no one cares, they're all so focused on either the tournament or Potter.

Neville lifts her chin up with his free hand "Ari, you're not going to die! You'll get through this alive, okay? You can do it, just — just breathe. Breathe."

Aurelia begrudgingly inhales and exhales giving Neville a pointed look, he squeezes her hand.

"Is there anything I can do to help? Do you want to practice some more spells? We — we've got some time, Ari."

She shakes her head, she'd much rather do something calming like throw herself off the Astronomy tower.

"Anything at all?" Neville asks.

"Kill me."

"Anything except that!"

"Well, I don't have any other ideas besides that. Do you have any wise ideas, Plant Boy?"

Neville opens his mouth to say something but promptly shuts it, turning a violent shade of red.

"Never mind."

"What, Neville? At this point, I'll take anything."

"Any — anything?"

"Anything."

"Are you sure?"

Aurelia nods, _please involve putting me out of my fucking misery_.

"Absolutely positive?"

"Yes!"

And then, he kisses her.

Leans up on his tippy-toes and presses his lips against hers, gently and softly. He pulls away quickly, it's a ghost of a kiss. Neville doesn't want to overwhelm her.

Aurelia's shocked, it's not what she had expected but, she certainly doesn't hate it.

"That works!" Aurelia says breathless and quietly. She wants nothing more than for Neville to kiss her again, this time, however, she wants to be able to process it, enjoy it even.

"D — does it?"

"I — I think . . . Maybe, you — you could try it again?"

Neville doesn't need to be told twice, leaning up to kiss her again. This kiss lasts longer. His one hand moves up to cradle her scarred cheek, his other hand squeezes her own hand. Neville's lips are soft and they have the faintest taste of orange and mint.

They both pull away, breathless. Neville smiles goofily, his cheeks are so red it looks as though someone's gone and blotched his cheeks with red paint. Aurelia's sure that she looks no different, she probably looks worse, she's considerably paler than Neville so when she blushes it's more noticeable.

Aurelia swallows thickly, she feels a bit confused, fear and happiness mix together. She should be concerned about her the third task and everything that could go bloody wrong and in some ways she is but her brain's trying to process the fact that Neville fucking Longbottom just fucking kissed her! Kissed! Her!

"Ari?"

"Huh?"

"Are you alright?"

She nods slowly "Yeah, I am . . . For now."

She enjoyed the kiss, it felt right and there's definitely butterflies in her stomach but she's also not even an hour away from possibly being killed in a dangerous tournament.

"Did — did you not like the kiss? Oh, may — maybe I shouldn't have kissed you — no, oh, I'm so — so — sorry, I —"

"No, it's not that! I did say you could do anything, I just — well, that wasn't the first thing I was expecting you to do. It was nice."

"It was?"

"Aye. Very."

"Are you —"

"I'm quite sure, Plant Boy. I just — so much is going on and I'm not sure how to react to anything but I did like it. I liked it very much. Very much so, that I wouldn't mind it, maybe, possibly, well, I — I don't know, maybe, perhaps, happening again in the future. I mean, that is, if you — you're okay with it happening in the future, y'know, as well." Aurelia rambles, finger-gunning him.

Neville grins, nodding eagerly "Yeah, ye — yeah, I'd like that very much."

Aurelia gives him a flustered grin "I l —"

Dumbledore's booming voice sounds from the Great Hall, announcing that the third task would be starting soon.

Dread slams into her, returning at full force. Any positive emotion is sucked from her. Her mouth runs dry and her breathing quickens.

"You — you'll be alright, Ari." Neville says, squeezing her hand and she wishes she could believe him.

They hug each other tightly then Aurelia's sneaking back into the Great Hall to gather with the other champions.

Mae and Andromeda are cheering loudly for her and from the Slytherin table, Elliot's screaming a chant incoherently for her.

 _This is it_.

"IFJENNIFERCONNELLYCANDOITTHENSOCANYOU!" Elliot shrieks as she leaves the hall.

Bagman leads them down to the Quidditch pitch which has been swallows whole by hedges. Aurelia swallows thickly, I'm not ready, I'm not ready, I'm not ready.

She breathes heavily, wiping away tears as Bagman explains something to them, it just goes through one ear and out the other.

A numbness takes ahold of her bones, she can't feel the ground beneath her feet, Aurelia wheezes, hating this feeling of floating.

Bagman says something about points, something about her being tied in first with Harry, Cedric in third with one less point than them. This meant that Harry and Aurelia would enter the maze first.

In her mind, that equalled a recipe for disaster. The two underage and unwilling champions go in to the last task first? Oh no, nothing sounds bad about that bloody idea!

"So . . . Oh my whistle, Harry and Aurora!" Bagman says.

"It's Aurelia!" The older three champions exclaim, Cedric and Fleur give Bagman cross looks.

Cedric gives Aurelia's shoulder a squeeze, wishing her the best of luck and then Bagman blows his whistle. The sharp sound is enough to drag her out of a stupor, she stumbles into the maze after Harry.

When she enters the maze, her panic increases tenfold. It's too quiet. There's no roar of the crowd and Aurelia feels positively isolated. As they travel down the pathway, Harry occasionally looks over his shoulder at her because she's sniffling loudly. He looks like he's going to say something every time he turns but he never does.

Harry hadn't spoken to her since that little spat they had.

Eventually they reach a fork in the path, they glance at each other then Harry goes left and Aurelia takes the right.

Everything becomes a blur, she walks and walks, going left and going right.

She just needs to find the Triwizard Cup. It must be a portkey, it'd be much easier than having the winner walking all the way out of the maze after finding it. Aurelia hopes she won't run into any obstacles.

Aurelia turns right again — _no, this way_.

The voice is soft, female, and familiar; it brings Aurelia a sense of peace. She looks to her left — _yes, that way . . . My moon._

She inhales sharply as she recognises the voice. It's her Aunt Bellatrix.

Her heart begins to race.

 _Don't you want to win_?

How the fuck is she hearing her voice? What the fuck is going on?

 _Don't you want to win_?

Aurelia frowns, is this part of the task?

 _Don't you want to win_?

It must be part of the task; it makes sense, Aurelia supposes. This voice is certainly testing her which is what these tasks are meant to do. She thinks, tightening her grip on her wand, maybe it's a charm or a spell. The voice must appear different to the other champions and it must only be triggered if they're near the cup. _Yes_ , Aurelia thinks, _that could make sense_. A charm using the voice of a person a champion hates or distrusts the most to test just how willing they are to win.

 _Don't you want to win_?

Aurelia turns left, she wants to get out of here.

 _Follow me then, my moon. Follow my voice and you will surely win_.

 _Alright, alright_ , Aurelia thinks, _I'll follow you_ . . .

"BLUE!"

Aurelia blinks, in front of her eyes, albeit a bit blurry, stands the Triwizard Cup.

"What?" She breathes out, her head throbs painfully, how did she get here?

Cedric and Harry are yelling at her.

"You got here first!" Cedric says, shaking her shoulders but, she doesn't remember getting here.

Cedric grins "You won, Blue! Go on, take the cup!"

"I —"

"Go on take it!" Harry snaps, Aurelia glances at him and he looks like pure shit. His expression is clearly pained as he struggles to stand.

"Well, I — well, it is our ticket out of here." Aurelia says groggily, "Let's all take it, we can figure out who won when they ask."

They don't seem to hate her idea so they move forward, Cedric helps Harry do so. She wonders exactly what happened to him, whatever it was, it looks bloody painful.

"Grab it first, you got here first." Cedric said, both his and Harry's hands are inches away from the cup. Harry looks like he might murder her if she argues so she doesn't. Aurelia grabs ahold of the cup and their hands follow suit.

 _It's over_ , Aurelia thinks as feeling of relief sweeps over her body and the world starts spinning around her.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So,,, Aurelia's hearing voices,,,, specifically her aunt's voice,,, what do you think that means? Is it something fishy or was it something meant to help her? Annnnd now for it to REALLY go down! Say goodbye to Aurelia's sanity and happiness, and get ready to say goodbye to Cedric, things are about to go to shit! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy the chapter, also bookmarking and giving this story kudos would be much appreciated! I would also really, really appreciate it if you could let me know what you thought of it!
> 
> P.S: Uhhh, the next chapter is going to be a bit violently graphic, so just a forewarning. It'll be a bit more detailed and violent than chapter seven


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